Are we on the up? What’s the latest…?

The snow cleared over a week ago and we’re looking at what is left of January. My view is 2010 is the new start, difficult weeks, months and for some year behind us.

There are some welcome and pleasantly surprising statistics supported by the statement below. A view presented by the Bank of England’s chief economist on a visit to Yorkshire last week…

“The Bank of England is seeing signs of economic recovery”

Short to the point and supported by the facts that manufacturing production has risen for the first time in two years and overseas demand for UK goods is on the up…

Closer to home in our industry UK car production increased by over 58% in December the biggest rise since May 1976!

This contributed to a new car market very close to 2 million registrations, well ahead of official forecasts made at the start of the year.

In a recent What car survey of readers intentions for 2010…

38% said they planned to change their car, whilst 32% said they would use their car less – Interesting, save money, save the environment?

The green lobby is determined to make companies and drivers pay and this year the government finally introduces the new “Showroom Tax” …

From April 2010 anyone buying a new car will pay a different rate of Vehicle Tax for the first tax disc. From the second tax disc onwards they will then pay the standard rate.

This is designed to send a strong message to drivers about the environmental implications of their car.

Fortunately this tax increase will only apply to new cars, not already registered cars.

Some key points…
Less than 130 g/km of CO2 Free Tax good news…
255g/km of CO2 and over, a Massive £950 in year one and then £940 in subsequent years ouch!

How will this new tax affect my business or me? For more information on this or any other Fleet, Vehicle or finance related issue we’d be delighted to talk.

Other News this week…

Volkswagen announces the acquisition of a 19.9% share in Suzuki showing s how serious the company is in becoming the world’s largest car manufacturer.

Nokia bites back at Apple and Google…Free sat-nav for Nokia Smartphone users.

Nokia says it will give free sat-nav software to all current and new customers who use its Smartphone’s.
As well as maps that span over 180 countries, Nokia’s application includes turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation for 74 countries in 46 languages.

Traffic information is also available, along with speed camera and speed limit details. Facebook users can also update their profile with their ‘live’ location.

Do you use a Nokia Smart phone? To receive this free software simply visit the Nokia site and download for free. Probably the biggest challenge the Satellite Navigation market has had to face to date, great news for the man in the street…

Look out for our e-news letter next week, more news and relevant views…

Have a great year…
Paul

Advertisement