Chevrolet City Express Fills Microvan Need
The Chevrolet City Express was introduced at the Chicago auto show in February and is scheduled to arrive at dealerships this fall. The City Express gives General Motors a vehicle to compete in a class that also includes models like the Nissan NV200 and the Ford Transit Connect.
The Chevy van is essentially a Nissan NV200. Both are built on a Nissan front-wheel-drive platform in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Both offer 122.7 cubic feet of cargo space and use a 131-horsepower 2-liter 4-cylinder engine with a continuously variable automatic transmission. They even share a 5.8-inch dashboard touch screen.
The Family of Fleet
Over the years, we have formally interviewed for Fleet Management Weekly hundreds of our fellow fleet professionals. I cannot tell you how many people talk about the sense of family they feel in this industry. It’s a repetitive theme as we chat with folks at the fleet industry conferences. And we love to hear when fleet management companies have been lauded for being great places to work. Maybe our industry is not unique, but it sure is a good feeling.
Thus, we were terribly saddened to learn of the passing of Jeff Coleman, senior fleet manager for Time Warner Cable’s West region. Jeff was a member of NAFA and active in the Pacific Southwest Chapter. Jeff will be remembered as a wonderful guy and will certainly be missed by his colleagues. We express our condolences to his family and many friends.
Drive Safety,
Janice Sutton
Executive Director
Terry Langness: PARS Does a Great Job at Much More Than Moving Vehicles
Terry Langness is Vice President, National Sales for PARS, where he is responsible for all sales activities for the US, Canada & Puerto Rico. Terry has over 35 years fleet industry experience, and is also an AFLA Board Member (currently serving on the Conference Committee). We recently caught up with Terry at the Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, where we spoke with him about the various services PARS has to offer beyond basic relocation -- and why their customers seem to like them so much.
Fleet Logistics Launches FleetBENEFIT Salary Sacrifice Scheme
European fleet management specialist, Fleet Logistics International, has launched a new salary sacrifice car scheme in the UK, calculated to be 10% cheaper than conventional schemes as multi-bidding is applied to every new car via a panel of funders to find the most attractive rate for the driver.
Thought to be the first of its kind to be structured this way and to be introduced by a fleet management provider rather than a leasing company, the new scheme, called FleetBENEFIT, is open to any sized organization, although research suggests that the optimal size is a minimum of 500 employees.
Fleetmatics FleetBeat Report Offers Key Fleet Benchmarks
From Small to Large Operators: A Look Across 20,000 Service Fleets
In this FleetBeat Report from Fleetmatics, fleet operators can see key benchmarks directly relevant or related to their specific business type, in areas such as fleet utilization, service/delivery stop performance, service radius, fuel consumption and payroll. These insights can be used to identify areas for fleet and customer service improvement.
Additionally, the data in this report details how, on average, fleet operators have an opportunity to significantly improve fleet productivity and cost efficiency through the application of business intelligence-driven fleet management.
FleetBeat also presents a unique roll-up of the broad economic and environmental impact of telematics adoption by commercial fleets based on detailed, real world industry benchmark data from Fleetmatics combined with commercial vehicle data from established third party data providers.
