Make AEB a priority before driverless cars, says Thatcham
Responding to Vince Cable’s announcement on plans to begin trials of driverless cars in the UK next year, motor insurance industry-established automotive research centre Thatcham Research said that while fully driverless cars “are an exciting glimpse of the future with substantial potential to improve road safety,” it opines that the UK car fleet “has a long way to go” before the technology should be unleashed on the motoring public.
Up to three cities in the UK will be selected as part of a £10 million competition to host trials of driverless cars, shared Business Secretary Vince Cable today. He said the government is calling on cities to join together with businesses and research organisations to put forward proposals to become a test location. The trials will get underway in January 2015 and are expected to last between 18 and 36 months. Ministers have also launched a review into current road regulations in order to ensure there is an appropriate regime for testing driverless cars in the UK.
Bridgestone ‘tyre toolbags’ support National Tyres apprentices
Bridgestone is supplying National Tyres’ next generation of automotive apprentices with “tyre toolbags” for a second successive year. The manufacturer says it was keen to support the vocational offering by way of a branded holdall for each learner for another year, containing a wide range of equipment to assist in both the classroom and in-branch, after first hearing about National’s pioneering NVQ level 2 training courses in 2013.
Survey reveals varying attitudes to ‘hit and run’ vehicle damage
What would you do if you damaged another vehicle but nobody saw you do it? A poll of 2,021 adults in the UK suggests that the chances are little over 50-50 that you’d make sure the vehicle owner received your details.
National Tyres and Autocare aiming for 300 branches
On 28 July Scotland’s Herald newspaper reported that Axle Group Holdings, the holding company behind the National Tyres and Autocare tyre retail chain and the Viking wholesale business, had reported a £2.1 million loss in its full-year 2013 figures. The headline figures were that group sales dipped from £166.3 million in 2012 to £161.5 million in 2013. And that while costs fell, 2012 profits of £3.85 million had become a £2.1 million pre-tax loss for 2013. However the complicated nature of holding company accounts suggests that this doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. Having read accounts filed at company’s house and contacted executives at Axle Group, Tyres & Accessories spoke with company founder, chairman and 60 per cent shareholder Alan Revie who spoke of strong operating results and branch expansion – even a rough goal of 300 branches.
Calculus Capital invests £2.5 million in WheelRight
Private equity firm Calculus Capital has invested £2.5 million in WheelRight Ltd, the tyre pressure monitoring company.
Richard Moore, Investment Director, Calculus Capital said: “We are very excited to invest in WheelRight and its market-leading, patented technology. The WheelRight sensor array provides a very hi-tech solution to a practical, every day problem. It will help to lower the costs of motoring, reduce the number of road accidents and limit carbon emissions. We are pleased to be able to support a leading UK technology company that has developed a product with significant global potential.”
Lancashire the worst place to live for car accidents
Data collated by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) highlights the best and worst performing areas when it comes to road safety improvements. The top three areas for reductions are Nottinghamshire, Tower Hamlets and Chester/Chester West; with some 98, 81 and 78 fewer people respectively killed or seriously injured on the roads in these local authority areas in 2013 compared to 2012.
TerraClean rallies round for Macmillan Cancer Support
Members of the TerraClean network have teamed up to take part in the Two Ball Rally in a bid to raise much needed funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
The Two Ball rally is the only European road trip and banger rally where all vehicles are welcome and takes in nine countries covering more than 1200 miles in just four days. The rally will pass through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Monte Carlo and back to France, finishing in Nice. Along the way the rally will pass through the Black Forest of Germany, the famous Stelvio Mountain Pass, Lake Como and Monaco.
A study carried out for Kwik Fit Mobile suggests that almost half of us take our work with us when we go on holidays. When adjusted to fit the 30.6 million people in the country’s workforce, the ICM survey of 2,003 adults in the UK shows that this 46 per cent of the workforce spends an average of 5 hour and 24 minutes of holiday time a year on work-related activities – a total of 3,171,550 days of extra work.
Slough based City 1st is introducing Cameo and UniSerV from CAM across its four truck depots. The commercial tyre specialist wanted to go paperless and install an intuitive system to help its team of fitters to transition to a mobile system. The company states that it reviewed the options and gained feedback from other users before deciding to adopt CAM’s technologies.
Children’s ‘Despicable’ movie choice – Micheldever/Protyre
A Micheldever/Protyre survey has confirmed children’s despicable taste in movies. Asked for their favourite film of the summer, Despicable Me 2 beat Frozen and How to Train your Dragon to first place. The survey draws attention to the need to keep children happy in the back of cars on family holidays, with portable video players an increasingly popular method of doing so.
After two weeks of intensive rescue talks, on Thursday 25th July, Unipart Automotive announced that it and its private equity owners (H2 Equity Partners) had failed to find a buyer for the loss-making company and had therefore called in administrators KPMG. Before that news made it to press, the administrators sold a comparatively small part of the business to a newly formed joint venture made up of car parts/workshop equipment distributors Andrew Page and The Parts Alliance. The deal sees Andrew Page acquire 21 branches and The Parts Alliance a total of 12. A total of 361 staff employed across these sites have transferred to Andrew Page and The Parts Alliance with immediate effect. Andrew Page announced it had rejoined The Parts Alliance on 8 July, the same day the news broke that Unipart Automotive had put the administrators on alert and was seeking out a rescue plan.
When the news broke that Unipart had entered administration, it will have been something of a blow for the 1800-odd “loyal” employees of the company. Indeed the only good thing for employees was the end of the speculation roller coaster than began with managers suggesting a rescue could come in 36 hours, followed by reports that Euro Car Parts was a front runner, and finally the announcement two weeks later that nothing could be done for the company. But what about staff?
Euro Car Parts to create 1500 jobs over the next 18 months
Following the collapse of Unipart Automotive last week, competitor and former front-runner in potential rescue talks, Euro Car Parts, has announced that it plans to create 1500 jobs over the next 18 months. The fact that this figure is roughly equivalent to the entire size of the former Unipart Automotive workforce should not be overlooked. Neither should the obvious question – how? With this and the Unipart collapse in mind, what looks clear is that, compare with the first half of this year, the automotive aftermarket will be a significantly different place.
A new study from Churchill Car Insurance of over 2,000 UK adults reveals that the majority (56 per cent) say they would not purchase a driverless car and a quarter (25 per cent) believes that autonomous vehicles will not be safe.
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