A weekly round-up of UK fleet news including Alphabet on fleet management environmental attitudes, the next generation of Leaselink, Lex’s appointment, Citroën’s fuel card, ACFO’s theme and the rebranding of Uniloads.

Alphabet: Fleet green targets rise

The proportion of organisations running emissions targets for fleets rose from 45% in 2011 to 79% last year, according to the Alphabet Fleet Management Report 2012.

According to the Report, which surveyed 250 fleet managers in October 2012: 83% of public companies now hold "green" targets, compared to 67% in 2011, while 79% of private companies hold such aims, up from 38% in 2011.

Other findings from the Report included cost being the greatest hurdle to "going green" for 52% of managers, with 91% of public – and 76% of private – fleet managers citing the prohibitive cost of changing vehicle. 56% of fleets reported a lack of suitable product, 54% expressed concern over refuelling or recharging, and 41% were put off by the lack of driving range of alternatively-fuelled vehicles.

Nearly two-thirds, 64%, of companies surveyed were pursuing environmental targets by switching to lower-emission vehicles, 44% were employing driving courses to increase fuel efficiency, with the same number using fuel cards to track fuel use. However, using telematics to acquire environmental impact data dropped from use by 41% of fleets in 2011 to 35% in 2012.

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Second-gen Leaselink at Ebbon-Dacs

Online technology provider Ebbon-Dacs has announced it is building a second generation of its e-procurement platform Leaselink.

Developers at the company have begun work on the system’s login and interface, with the majority of the development released to users in phases over the next two years, which Ebbon-Dacs hopes will reduce disruption. The overall aim is to reduce the navigation "clicks" required by Leaselink while increasing the flexibility of the system.

The first two modules – an enhanced reporting system and third-party management application – have been made priorities for launch in 2013.

According to the company, Leaselink is used by 12 of the top 15 UK leasing companies to oversee delivery of more than 100,000 fleet vehicles each year.

Lex appoints broker and brand leader

Fleet lessor Lex Autolease has appointed Fiona Hall as leader of its Broker and Branded Solutions division.

Hall also becomes part of Lex’s executive management team and will manage a team of 60 overseeing 50,000 vehicles, Lex’s broker relationships and its white-label service offering to manufacturers including Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Mitsubishi and Volvo.

Hall joins following five years as commercial director at Arval UK

Citroën offers fuel card

Citroën Contract Motoring (CCM) is set to target SME custom by offering a fuel card to UK fleet and LCV clients.

Duncan Chumley, head of CCM, said the card was part of the company’s aim "to improve and differentiate our contract hire and finance lease products" and to reduce costs for its vehicle finance customers.

The CCM fuel card will be free for the first year, £6 for the second and £12 a year from then on, with Ctiroën estimating savings when using the card will be between 4p and 10p a litre.

ACFO ‘cradle to grave’ conference theme

The Association of Car Fleet Operators (ACFO) has announced the theme of its 2013 conference will be ‘A Day in the Life of a Vehicle – from birth to end of life’.

Speakers will include Mike Campbell, procurement consultant specialist at PMMS Consulting Group, on the acquisition and financing of vehicles; Matthew Walter, head of LeasePlan UK Consultancy Services, on supply management and development; Steve Huddart of GE Capital and John Pryor of Arcadia on maintenance of cars and manufacturer / independent relationships; and Jim McNally, chairman of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association’s Residual Value and Remarketing Committee, and Caroline Sandall, fleet manager at Barclays, on defleet processes.

The event will take place at Rockingham Motor Speedway, Corby, Northamptonshire, on 16 May.

Uniloads rebrands as Vmoves

Vehicle collection, inspection and delivery company Uniloads has rebranded as Vmoves Fleet Solutions.

The company, which handles more than 1,000 vehicle moves a month, will also divide work between three operations: Vmoves Fleet Car, Vmoves Fleet Commercial and Vmoves Fleet Intelligence, which will provide statistics for clients.

The changes also see promotions within the company as Justin Arnold and Dave Whyte become general managers of the car and commercial operations, respectively, and Linda Mitchell joins as general manager of the intelligence arm, having held similar roles at Manheim and Jet Total Vehicle Solutions.

richard.brown@timetric.com