Issue 47: 20 March 2019 £5.99 www.companycartoday.co.uk Your independent source of fleet news, reviews and interviews PLUS Coffee with: Honda fleet boss GETTING Marc Samuel News Infrastructure tsar’s chargepoint CROSS regulation call TEST DRIVE REVIEW On the road in Volkswagen’s new T-Cross baby SUV Inside DRIVEN NEW AUDI A1 SPECIAL REPORT: 2019 Geneva motor show YOUR DRIVING EXPERIENCE TOTALLY TRANSFORMED Getting behind the wheel of the All -New Focus has never been more comfortable or less demanding thanks to its new driver assistance technologies such as Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Intelligent Speed Assist and Blind Spot Information (BLIS). Discover more at ford.co.uk/new -focus or contact the Ford Business Centre: 03457 23 23 23 | [email protected] P11D BIK £30,490- £18,100 28%-22% Model shown is an All-New Focus ST-Line X 5 Door Manual Diesel with optional Adaptive LED Headlights. Fuel economy mpg (l/100km): Combined 46.3 (6.1). *CO2 emissions 114g/km. Figures shown are for comparability purposes; only compare fuel consumption and CO2 fi gures with other cars tested to the same technical procedures. These fi gures may not refl ect real life driving results, which will depend upon a number of factors including the accessories fi tted (post-registration), variations in weather, driving styles and vehicle load. *There is a new test used for fuel consumption and CO2 fi gures. The CO2 fi gures shown, however, are based on the outgoing test cycle and will be used to calculate vehicle tax on fi rst registration. FOREWORD CONTENTS 06 NEWS New EV-only Kia Soul; Ofgem urged to control charging sector 11 NEWS ANALYSIS UK focus for FCA Europe fleet boss 14 GENEVA SHOW 2019 WELCOME The big company car stories Last week, I WLTP on Vehicle Excise Duty and company car tax “in the coming months”. 20 INTERVIEW attended the Answers on a postcard to what this Honda fleet supremo Marc Samuel relaunch event Government means by that time period. for the Go Ultra Don’t forget, we’re about to enter the 22 REVIEWS penultimate tax year for which there are New Volkswagen T-Cross SUV; Low campaign, BIK tables published, so anyone taking new Audi A1 premium supermini a combined a company car from now on has no idea what the Government is going to be 29 LONG-TERM TESTS Government grabbing in tax after the first 24 months of Nissan Leaf farewell; Vauxhall and industry initiative to what will generally be a 36- or 48-month Grandland X update contract. There is enough uncertainty accelerate the move to ultra- in this shambolic pre-Brexit, mid-Brexit 31 KNOWLEDGE low emission vehicles. or maybe-never-Brexit world that we Is 4x4 worth the extra on defleet? Representing the Government was find ourselves marooned in, without the transport minister Jessie Norman, who industry having this absence of clarity. 32 FACTS AND FIGURES said much of what you might expect about It’s damaging for business, for company All the numbers you need to know how committed the Government was to car drivers and for the environment, pushing the adoption of plug-in vehicles. because company cars are the highest- 34 FLEET OF FANCY Unfortunately, there was a bit going volume way to get new technology into the Hot Mercedes-AMG CLS53 on in politics last Tuesday (a little vote marketplace. The Spring Statement was about some minor European issue), so he another opportunity wasted. 06 departed before anyone could ask about the disconnect between the Government drive to lower vehicle emissions and its treatment of the company car sector. Luckily we had to wait less than 24 hours for the answer, with chancellor Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement failing to grasp the opportunity to end this unprecedented period of uncertainty. Paul Barker Editor Instead, he chose to extend it with a Newspress Automotive wishy-washy couple of lines on page six of Editor of the Year 2018 14 a seven-page statement that said nothing more than the Government will publish its Guild of Motoring Writers response to the review into the impact of Editor of the Year 2017 EDITORIAL: DISCLAIMER: Company Car Today is EDITOR: Paul Barker T: 01206 638034 published by Automotive Media & Events E: [email protected] Limited, registered address 1 Second Avenue, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Tristan Young Halstead, Essex, CO9 2SU. Registered CONTRIBUTORS: Euan Doig, Tom Webster number 10034249. All rights reserved. No NEWS: [email protected] part of the magazine may be reproduced in PRODUCTION: any form in whole or in part without prior ART DIRECTOR: Caroline Creighton-Metcalf written permission of the publisher. All T: 01206 638037 material published remains the copyright of E: [email protected] Automotive Media & Events Limited. While PUBLISHING: every reasonable care is taken to ensure 20 22 PUBLISHER: Dave Wallace T: 07739 554329 accuracy, information is obtained from a E: [email protected] variety of sources and the publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions, nor ADVERTISING: T: 01206 638036 do we accept liability for any loss or damage, 34 CIRCULATION MANAGER: Andy Kirk T: 01825 701520 howsoever caused, resulting from the use E: [email protected] of the magazine. We reserve the right to edit letters, copy or images submitted to SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscribe to Company the magazine without further consent. The Car Today: UK £120.00 (two years £205, three submission of material to Automotive Media years £270). Europe and Eire £165 (two years & Events Limited unsolicited or requested, is £280, three years £370). taken as permission to publish. Company Car Today ISSN 2514-1902 (online) @companycartoday Printing: Micropress Printers Ltd, Suffolk. COMPANYCARTODAY.CO.UK 5 The big stories from the NEWS past fortnight in the fleet world KIA KICKS OFF BUILD UP TO NEW SOUL EV Kia will drop the petrol and The revised Soul receives Kia’s UK managing director, diesel versions of the Soul a host of new equipment Paul Philpott, said: “We’re leaving only the pure EV when including Kia’s new Uvo telling customers that there’s a the upgraded version goes on connectivity system, large nine-month wait for the e-Niro sale this time next year. touchscreen and a head-up because we already have 1000 fall in diesel sales with growth The new Soul EV will be display. The Uvo system also sold orders and we’re only in petrol, hybrid and electric. produced with either a 39kWh links to an app which allows getting 1000 cars this year. We Used diesel values are starting or a 64kWh battery. However, drivers to control certain need to be up front about this.” to harden which is an indicator the UK has yet to decide if it functions of the car such as Philpott added that while that the diesel fall is slowing.” will take both versions or just pre-heating or pre-cooling retail customers were willing He added that he expected the longer-range option. before a journey. to wait, fleets were usually not. new diesel car sales to be down Kia claims the Soul's While the car will be available However, he added that sales again in 2019, but not to the batteries are 30% more in some European markets this of the Niro hybrid were up 50% same extent as in 2018. efficient than those in the year, the UK will have to wait year-on-year and that there As for Brexit, Philpott said Nissan Leaf, which would mean until the start of 2020. was only a two- to three- a delay would mean a flat the 39kWh Soul has an official The arrival of the Soul will month wait for this car. market, and a no-deal Brexit range of more than 200 miles also help with the demand for Commenting on the change on 29 March would put the and the 64kWh version a range EVs being experienced by Kia in the fuel mix, he said: “Last industry into the unknown. of around 300 miles. for its full-electric e-Niro. year we experienced a 29% Tristan Young Mazda aims at Qashqai with CX-30 No clarity on Government BIK plans Mazda has unveiled its new The Government is under again failing to reveal rates Nissan Qashqai-rivalling attack for failing to provide beyond the end of the crossover at the Geneva motor future Benefit-in-Kind clarity 2020/21 tax year. show, with the CX-30 sitting for company car drivers “It’s outrageous that we between the CX-3 and CX-5 in and organisations in last weren’t told these rates the firm’s line-up. It is due week’s Spring Statement. years ago, and yet we’re still to go on sale late this year. It went no further than to waiting,” said leasing giant According to Mazda, the stage, but expect the firm’s say a Government response Leaseplan head of consultancy CX-30 is the second model in low-emission petrol engines following the review into the Matthew Walter. “This means its “new-generation line-up”, to feature alongside its impact of WLTP on company that fleets and motorists following on from the new 1.5-litre or 2.0-litre diesels. car tax and VED would arrive cannot properly prepare for 3 lower-medium model. ● Geneva 2019: The top “in the coming months”. the years ahead, which is The Japanese brand has not company car stories The industry reacted with particularly worrying at a time released information on the from Europe’s big frustration to the Government of such economic uncertainty.” vehicle’s powertrains at this motor show, p14 6 COMPANYCARTODAY.CO.UK NEWS said Ofgem should regulate the industry to ensure a reliable service.