All articles by Jo Tacon

Jo Tacon

Hitachi Cap supplies hybrid LCVs to Liverpool council

Liverpool City Council is taking part in a trial of hybrid-powered LCVs, with the vehicles – Ashwoods Hybrid Transit vans – supplied by Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions on a contract hire basis. The vans have been fitted with hybrid converters provided by low-emission technology company Ashwoods, which use a system similar to a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), as seen in Formula 1, to recover the energy normally wasted through braking and deceleration to charge the battery, Hitachi Capital said.

Not just a leasing company

Jo Tacon, editor of sister publication Motor Finance, talks to Jon Mackney, head of consultancy at Arval, the fleet lessor owned by BNP Paribas fleet, about technology, vans and the green revolution.

New trade association for UK remarketing industry

A new trade association has been established in order to represent the UK remarketing industry, which turns over £9 billion (10 billion) each year. The Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) is a not for profit association, set up by senior members of the remarketing industry, both inventory owners and service providers. Its inaugural chairman is John Davies, currently a non-executive director of Autologic, who spent seven years as MD of Lloyds TSB Asset Finance.

Management changes at Leasedrive Velo

Roger Partridge, CEO since 2003, is to move away from day-to-day executive involvement with the fleet management and leasing company, while David Bird, formerly Leasedrive Velo’s chief operating officer, will become managing director

A merger of equals

Nigel Stead of Lex Autolease talks to Jo Tacon about bringing together two businesses to create the largest fleet operator in the UK

Taken to account

Hire purchase inclusion into lease accounting draws flack from leasing critics. Jo Tacon reports

With a firm destination in mind

Now the dust has settled after GE Capitals restructuring process, John Jenkins and Gary Killeen tell Jo Tacon what has changed

New boss at Toyota Financial Services UK

The post of managing director at Toyota Financial Services (TFS) UK plc has been filled, with Doug Gillies, former operations director at the captive, stepping into the role vacated by David Betteley upon his retirement in October Gillies, who took up the post as of November 1, has a long history at the captive, having first joined when it was still a joint venture between Toyota Finance and Lloyds Bowmaker; he was part of the original Toyota Financial Services team when the captive was set up in 1998

Jobs to be cut at Lex Autolease

Lex Autolease has announced that it will cut 175 jobs by the end of 2010, following an organisational review.

LeasePlan reports strong profit for H1 2009

International fleet management and leasing company LeasePlan has announced that its results for the first half of 2009 show that its portfolio size remained “stable” over the period, while continuing operations delivered a “solid” net profit of 61 million. Compared with the same period in 2008, however, its H1 2009 net profit of 61 million represents a significant fall against H1 2008’s equivalent figure of 112 million