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UK’s most popular new car colour? Grey of course

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Grey retained its position as the UK’s favourite new car colour in 2020, according to the latest figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

While it was a tough year for new car registrations overall, 397,197 grey units were sold over the course of 2020, which means that just shy of a quarter (24.3%) of all new cars sold were painted in the shade.

Black and white took second and third place overall, completing a monochrome podium, with more than six in ten (61.6%) of all new cars entering British roads in 2020 painted in these three colours. The rest of the top 10 remained unchanged, apart from yellow and bronze which reversed places as yellow increased its market share by 50% but equivalent to only 6,816 sales. Red saw its registrations drop below 200,000 for the first time in a decade to 147,222, recording its worst tally since 1997.

While the top colour for both petrol and diesel cars was grey, with 248,182 and 84,489 registered in the colours respectively, white was the most in-demand tint for zero emission battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with 25,689 painted in it whilst black was the most popular shade for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) with 17,989 registered. It was a record year for these electrified vehicles, which together accounted for more than one in 10 registrations – up from around one in 30 in 2019.

Unlike 2019, which saw Scotland and the Channel Islands bucking the national trend, in 2020 grey was the unanimous colour of choice across the UK. Indeed, the only counties to not opt for grey cars as their number one choice were the Isle of White and Borders, where blue was the most popular tint, and Strathclyde which saw white take the top spot. Leicestershire, meanwhile, was the most popular location for pink cars, with 23.7% of the UK’s total registered in the region, while buyers in the West Midlands snapped up the most orange cars.

While white was the most popular shade for the mini segment, luxury saloons and executive cars were most likely to be black. Overall, there were 106 different distinct colours registered throughout the year with the least popular colour nationwide being maroon.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “2020 was a pretty dark year for the automotive industry and having grey as the top new car colour probably reflects the atmosphere. The sector, however, continues to provide valuable mobility, from vans delivering essential goods to private cars helping key workers do their jobs, and click and collect offers a lifeline for the industry, helping to keep manufacturing going. It cannot, however, replace the showroom experience and the sector has taken great steps to ensure dealers are Covid-secure with the flexibility to manage customer appointments so car buyers can choose a new car and colour in a safe environment.”

Lightfoot: Delivering robust returns for some of the UK’s largest and most complex fleets

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Many of the companies who turn to Lightfoot have had telematics systems for years which have always provided a wealth of data to managers, who are then in turn relied on to communicate this information back to drivers.

Companies have realised that this approach is fundamentally broken and the wrong way around. Instead, they look to Lightfoot’s bottom-up approach to engage and rewards drivers, empowering those in the driving seat to drive change.

To demonstrate this bottom-up approach, during the months of September and October 2020, Lightfoot are offering a free 6-week trial to any UK-based fleet over 100 vehicles (subject to terms & conditions).

The Lightfoot trial is unique in the industry and provides a clear comparison of fleet performance before and after Lightfoot deployment – this leads to a robust ROI case study for fleet owners to evaluate at the end of the 6-week trial.

Should you like to know more, please complete the demo request form here.

RAC: We’re more dependent on the car than a year ago

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

35% of UK drivers – equivalent of 14.7m people – say they are more dependent on using their car than 12 months ago, with public transport seen as an expensive and unreliable alternative.

That’s according to data released as part of the latest RAC Report on Motoring, which show a further rise in the proportion of drivers who say they rely on their cars as their main mode of transport – increased dependency is up from 33% in 2018, and from 27% a year earlier, and is now at its highest proportion in the past seven years.

Just 14% of drivers (the equivalent of around 5.9m people) say they have become less dependent than a year ago, though this has also increased from 12% in 2018 indicating a small rise in those saying they are less dependent on their vehicles.

At a time when the Government and local councils are keen for drivers to use their cars less frequently to improve air quality and cut congestion, the RAC says it believes the findings are a stark reminder of the reality for many people, especially those who live outside the biggest cities – that for good or bad, millions of people remain enormously dependent on their cars for many types of journeys.

The top reasons drivers give for using their cars more are a greater need to transport family members (28%), family and friends moving further away (24%) and, perhaps most strikingly, a reduction in the provision or quality of public transport (25%) – with drivers in the North East (42%) significantly more likely to call this out as a reason for them increasingly turning to the car.

Drivers are particularly frustrated by the lack of feasible alternatives to the car for the journeys they need to make, according to the data. Most – 57%, the equivalent of almost 23.9m people – say they would be willing to use their cars less if the quality of public transport was better, and agreement with this statement has been high for an incredible 11 consecutive years. Around half of drivers (53%) say they are frustrated by the lack of feasible alternative modes of transport for long journeys, with a similar proportion (52%) saying the same about short journeys. These figures both rise to 55% for drivers aged between 25 and 44.

Among drivers who would be willing to use public transport more, half (50%) say the reason they don’t use public transport more is that fares are too high – up by five percentage points on last year – while 41% say services are not frequent enough. Meanwhile, a growing number of people (36% – up from 31% in 2018) say that a lack of punctuality is a significant barrier to them using public transport as an alternative to driving, and 38% say services don’t run where they need them to.

Of those who would be willing to consider using public transport if services were better, almost a third (31%) say they would make more use of it if there was greater availability of services – a figure that rises to 40% for rural motorists, reflecting to some extent the significant cuts that were made to rail services following the Beeching Report and, more recently, to rural bus services as highlighted last year by the Parliamentary Transport Committee.

The RAC’s findings also show that motorists who live in London are more likely to use alternatives to their cars compared to drivers elsewhere in the UK. In the capital, on average 38% of each driver’s weekly journeys are made either by public transport, walking or cycling, compared with a national average of just 24%.

For those who live in villages or other rural areas, cars typically account for an enormous 85% of all journeys, with just 15% currently represented by public transport, cycling or walking.

Across the UK as a whole, an overwhelming majority of motorists (73%) say they would find it very difficult to adjust to life without a car – with more than half (54%) of this group stating this is because their vehicle is essential for carrying heavy items. Given the capital’s more comprehensive public transport system, a smaller proportion of drivers in London (58%) say they would struggle to adjust without a car – compared to 84% of motorists who live in villages and rural communities.

GUEST BLOG: Maximising uptime through a data driven approach to rental

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

David Brennan (pictured, above), CEO of Nexus Vehicle Rental, discusses the benefits of maximising uptime through a data driven approach to rental…

As consumption habits continue to shift from ownership to usership, vehicle rental has become an integral part of businesses’ mobility plans across a wide variety of industries including logistics, construction, retail and even specialist sectors, such as waste management. 

As uncertain economic conditions continue, businesses are less inclined to invest in depreciating assets, instead diversifying their fleets through rental, lowering fixed costs whilst flexing their fleet with the demands of the season. 

Flexible rental enables businesses to adapt their fleet size depending on demand at any given time. Its customers are not tied into long-term contracts and can benefit from more competitive, fixed rates compared to short, medium- or long-term hire. 

Driven by tech

Cementing itself at the forefront of innovation since launching 20 years ago, Nexus has successfully carved its market niche by applying technology to meet ever-changing industry trends and customer demands.

Nexus is transforming the vehicle rental industry just as Uber disrupted taxi services – providing on-demand access to the largest mobility supply chain through its pioneering online rental management platform, IRIS. 

The technology (IRIS) connects businesses to more than 550,000 vehicles across 2,000 locations, including EVs, specialist and commercial vehicles, HGVs and one day, autonomous vehicles. 

IRIS minimises booking errors, enabling customers to self-serve, putting them in control of the entire rental process. Automation means that 90% of bookings involve no human interaction and allows new bookings to be made in just 30 seconds, enabling full visibility of the whole rental management process.

Nexus’ Management Information (MI) suite automatically analyses customer data to identify cost-effective options for clients, saving them up to 20% on rental spend, minimising inefficiencies in the rental process. 

As part of the latest update, Nexus launched IRIS V5 with a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) online rental portal for business use. This enables customers to meet the rising demand for alternative, cleaner mobility solutions while avoiding large upfront expenditure – a first for the corporate rental market. 

This all-encompassing mobility solution means that customers can always meet the demands of the job, with access to the right vehicles at the touch of a button, or tap of a smartphone, and without long-term financial commitments, keeping businesses moving. 

www.nexusrental.co.uk

Understanding Vehicle Procurement: Why Cheaper Doesn’t Equal Better

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By AssetWorks

Often, vehicle replacement and procurement processes cause a slew of headaches for fleet managers and analysts. Many fleet organisations struggle with vehicle procurement, especially when deciding whether to purchase a more expensive vehicle, or the lower cost option. 

In most cases, cheaper does not equal better. While the cheapest option maybe the best option in one given scenario, that is a dangerous principle to apply to every circumstance. Instead, your organisation should shift its focus from cost to value. Gather all of your fleet data and evaluate which is most important to help make a decision, including: historical maintenance data, needs analysis and cost comparisons. These important items will help guarantee that you make the right choice.

Take an outdoor painting project, for example. If you wanted to repaint the railing by your front door, and you chose the cheapest standard paint, it may look good for a few weeks or even months, if you’re lucky. When the weather takes a turn, the paint won’t hold up, however. It will chip, peel and leave the unprotected metal underneath exposed. On the other hand, investing in an outdoor-designed paint would have protected your railing for a significantly longer time period, despite the greater initial cost. Think about vehicle purchasing is the same way. If you go with the cheapest option and must replace it in half the time of the other option, you end up using more of your resources. 

With thorough life cycle cost analysis, fleet managers can evaluate vehicle procurement benefits and drawbacks using their existing fleet data, like maintenance data, usage data, labour rates and fuel consumption. 

Epyx targets fleet remarketing with tracking reports

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Epyx has launched new online reports designed to help fleets gain a better picture of their remarketing activity in the face of burgeoning data points.

The Insights Reports are being made available to businesses that use the company’s 1link Disposal Network platform to defleet company cars and vans through a wide variety of channels.

The initial rollout focuses on both vehicles available for sale and sold vehicles using three key graphs. Each of these provides an informative overview over a range of timescales as well as giving the option to drill down to a granular level.

The first graph shows a vendor which vehicles have been published for sale by different channels – such as specific online and physical sales and auctions.

The second plots total vehicles for sale, including the ability to drill down into each channel to see where they are being advertised, for how long, and by manufacturer and model.

The third graph, for sold vehicles, shows the user the number of sold units and allows them to access details such as cars and vans sold by channel and by manufacturer and model, alongside metrics such as results against CAP, against reserve or days to sale.

Vicky Gardner, head of remarketing at epyx, said: “The amount of data that fleets have to handle as part of their day-to-day remarketing grows all the time. For example, we saw sales through 1link Disposal Network rise by 15% last year, which is a pretty substantial increase. Fleets that remarket tens of thousands of cars every year, as some of our customers do, face particular issues just tracking their activity.

“This means that there is an onus on providing tools that make their online remarketing activity as easy-to-understand as possible and the new Insights Reports are our latest development in this area.

“What we have delivered, we believe, is a graphical format that allows the user to quickly gain an overview of their activity with the option to quickly drill down into all kinds of details that they may want to access. The initial reaction has been very positive.”

Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay 

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