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Fleet World’s five-minute industry briefing: This week’s top stories

All the key news in fleet from the last week…

pollution

The CIEH says central government must take responsibility for air quality issues rather than passing the burden to local authorities.

Air quality plans unfairly shift burden on local authorities, says CIEH

Recently announced air quality plans should put the focus on action from central government rather than “unfairly shifting the burden to solve the problem to local authorities”.

So says the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) as latest analysis by Friends of the Earth – published on the UK’s first National Clean Air Day (Thursday 15 June 2017) – finds that the Government’s own data shows that 58 local authorities across the UK will still have illegal levels of air pollution in 2019 without further action being taken.

For more details, click here.

Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann (left) and the new Opel CEO, Michael Lohscheller.

Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann (left) and the new Opel CEO, Michael Lohscheller.

Vauxhall/Opel CEO steps down ahead of PSA purchase

Vauxhall/Opel CEO, Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann, has stepped down from his position and will leave the company once its sale to PSA Group has completed.

Dr Neumann will remain a board member in the interim, while the role of speaker of the management board and CEO passes to Michael Lohscheller with immediate effect. Lohscheller, appointed via a unanimous vote, has served as CFO since September 2012.

For more details, click here.

Selwyn Cooper, head of financial services for Volvo Car UK

Selwyn Cooper, newly appointed head of financial services for Volvo Car UK.

Volvo head of fleet moves to financial services role

Selwyn Cooper, formerly head of business sales at Volvo, has moved to the role of head of financial services at the carmaker with immediate effect.

The move sees Cooper head up the Volvo Car Financial Services division, with responsibility for the management and delivery of the expanding range of finance and insurance products offered by Volvo in the UK.

For more details, click here.

amazon

According to industry rumours, Amazon is already recruiting car sales executives.

Amazon explores UK car sales market

Amazon is said to be eyeing up the car sales market in Europe, with plans to run a trial in the UK first.

According to German trade publication Automobilwoche, auto industry specialist Christoph Moeller has been put in charge of Amazon’s European business with carmakers and is already recruiting car sales executives.

For more details, click here.

bluecity

The BlueCity electric car sharing scheme has officially launched in London.

BlueCity EV sharing scheme launches in London

The BlueCity electric car sharing scheme has officially launched in London following a pilot in Hammersmith and Fulham.

Operated by BluepointLondon, which is part of the Bolloré Group, the scheme started last December with 10 cars and has now also expanded into Merton and Hounslow, with a total of 30 Bolloré BlueCars now available and plans to have up to 50 cars in circulation by the end of the summer.

For more details, click here.

New Jaguar XF Sportbrake

New Jaguar XF Sportbrake

Jaguar XF Sportbrake revealed 

Jaguar has taken the wraps off its second-generation XF Sportbrake, which is available to order now.

Priced from £34,910, the new estate is 6mm shorter than the previous XF Sportbrake but with a wheelbase that’s 51mm longer, bringing increased interior room. Load space stands at 565 litres, rising to 1,700 litres.

Engine line-up includes a 161bhp Ingenium 2.0-litre turbo diesel with rear-wheel drive and both manual and automatic gearboxes – both versions offer official combined fuel economy of 62.8mpg with 118g/km for the manual and 119g/km for the diesel.

For more details, click here.

SEAT has appointed Sam Hothi as rental & motability manager.

SEAT has appointed Sam Hothi as rental & motability manager.

SEAT names new rental & motability manager

SEAT has appointed Sam Hothi, previously area sales manager, as rental & notability manager with responsibility for overseeing sales to rental partners and Motability scheme.

Hothi, who will report to head of fleet and business sales, Peter McDonald, will also oversee the extended four-day test drive scheme’s fleet of vehicles.

For more details, click here.

ev

The Switched On Scotland Phase Two: An Action Plan For Growth document covers the period 2017-2020.

Scotland gets £8.2m funding boost for EVs

Businesses and individuals in Scotland can now access an extra £8.2m funding for electric and low carbon vehicles under the second phase of the country’s Switched On Scotland Plug-In Vehicle Roadmap.

Scotland’s transport minister Humza Yousaf announced details of the funding for the Low Carbon Transport Loan Fund for 2017/18, which provides interest-free loans to individuals/business for low carbon vehicles as well as the option for electric motorbikes, scooters and plug-in heavy goods vehicles to be obtained through the fund for the first time.

For more details, click here.

For more of the latest industry news, click here.

Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.