ESTATE agent Townends has confirmed an order for 90 VW Golf and Polo models, all in the company's corporate colour Dragon green.

THE Chelmsford Cab Company and its subsidiary, Stansted Airport Taxis, has signed a fleet deal with Volkswagen for 60 Sharan MPVs a year over a three year period.

THE Renault Trafic panel van range will be sold with Vauxhall badges as from next year. The vans will also be sold with Opel badging in Portugal and, later, in Germany.

FOR the first time in 63 years of publication, Glass's Guide has quoted a trade value for a used car higher than the current list price. Following the first auction sale of MGF sports cars - which sold for up to 115% of retail price - Glass's has valued the MGF 1.8i at £19,500 retail for a 95N, 11,000 miles example.

ZURICH Insurance's commercial division has established a national team of account executives dedicated to providing specialist insurance cover and advice to fleet operators. The move reflects Zurich's growing presence in the fleet market and will be followed up by further fleet targeted initiatives later this year.

FLEET driver training has once again received strong backing from the Government. Steven Norris, Minister for Road Safety, reiterated his commitment to driver education at the presentation of awards at the Company Car Driver of the Year Competition, sponsored by Lease Plan and The Times.

A VAUXHALL Vectra company car driver has battled for 5,000 miles with a car that makes more road noise than his old Cavalier. Nevan Kitchen, a safety manager with construction company Laing, knows just how noisy his car is - he has measured it with a decibel meter! At motorway speeds his Vectra produces 78-80 decibels, while a control test with a Cavalier recorded just 72 decibels.

BRITAIN'S largest chauffeur company Miles and Miles has ordered Fleetway Systems' CONNECT booking system to help manage its 60-vehicle luxury car fleet. The system provides complete automation from booking through to invoicing and management reporting to the company, which handles all Avis's chauffeur requirements in the UK.

CITROEN is offering small fleets a free sample of its new fleet management software package - Auto Manager - for a limited period. The offer provides small businesses running less than 50 vehicles with the chance to trial a demonstration Auto Manager package for 30 days free of charge. Thereafter, the first 1,000 applicants will receive a fully operational disc of the complete system free of charge.

INDUSTRY 'heavyweight' Nick Brown has triumphed in his slimming battle and in the process raised more than £10,000 for charity. Brown, who was recently appointed joint managing director of newly-launched leasing and fleet management company First Service Management, a subsidiary of United Dominions Trust, started his sponsored slim on March 3.

A COVENTRY-based manufacturer of industrial chemicals has signed a solus contract hire and outsourcing agreement which could see it cut fleet operating costs by £20,000 a year.

PEUGEOT has doubled its representation on Stretton Leisure's 500-vehicle fleet with a new deal to supply 406s to the Greenhalls Group subsidiary.

TWO of the UK's major dealership groups have backed new car sales figures which reveal a return to the market of private buyers.

BISHOPS Stortford-based security firm Astor Security Group has secured a new fleet of Vauxhall Astras in a £120,000 contract with local Vauxhall dealer Franklins. The fleet deal involves 10 Astra diesels - a mix of three and five-door Merit and LS models - which have been acquired on a maintenance inclusive three year contract hire basis through Vauxhall MasterHire Leasing.

SAINSBURY'S has added Air Miles to the lure of its cut-price fuel in a move designed to poach customers from its main rival, Tesco. The company's marketing director, Kevin McCarten, predicted that the £15 million promotion - which involves a link up with British Airways, would boost the store's turnover by 3%.

HIGH toll charges across the newly opened £330 million second Severn River Crossing will continue to force traffic to divert on to less suitable routes, according to the RAC.

LEXUS is increasingly winning favour with pubs and leisure giant Whitbread's company car drivers. More than half Whitbread's drivers are choosing to upgrade their vehicles under a policy by which model choice is determined by monthly cost of ownership figures based on contract hire rates from Avis Fleet Services.

SKODA'S Felicia range gains fleet appeal this month with the availability of a 1.6 litre Volkswagen engine, a driver's airbag and ABS brakes. The 75 bhp eight valve engine gives the Skoda a top speed of 100 mph. 0-62 acceleration times are 13 seconds for the hatch and 15 seconds for the estate.

EUROPEAN Motor Holdings, the London-based motor retail chain, has reported falling profits despite increased turnover. Profit before tax was £6.7 million and turnover totalled £345 million. In the previous 12 months profit was £7.9 million and turnover was £284 million.

TOYOTA has revealed details of its new Landcruiser models, called the Colorado, on sale from August 8. It replaces both the 4Runner and the mid-sized Landcruiser II models and will target both the Land Rover Discovery and Mitsubishi Shogun.

DRIVERS with an Orange phone can now access traffic information by dialling 177 on their mobile. Orange is using TrafficCall, part of the world's largest traffic and travel news reporting organisation, to provide regionalised traffic information, 24 hours a day.

VOLKSWAGEN is bringing a new maxi-MPV to the UK with room to accommodate up to nine adults and all their luggage. The new-look 1997 Caravelle gets a host of drivetrain, suspension and cosmetic refinements to complement its smaller sister - the Sharan.

A FLEET of 100 air-conditioned Ford Galaxys has been transporting the tennis stars throughout Wimbledon fortnight. The vehicles are operating through Hertz which says this is the world's largest sports transport service, next to the Olympics.

YORKSHIRE-based driver training specialist Driving Development is backing its courses with a no quibble double guarantee.

THE AA is demanding a 'cashback' system where drivers would get refunds on their car tax when the Highways Agency fails to meet its targets. John Dawson, the AA's policy director said the Agency's Road User's Charter seemed reasonable until you checked the figures.

A BEDFORD-based contract hire company has reported Mazda to the Office of Fair Trading because, it says, the firm's dealers all offer exactly the same fleet discounts. Martin Keepfer, a director of Vehicle Contracts (UK), wrote to each of the 112 dealerships asking for quotes and 57 replied all quoting the same prices.

VAUXHALL has launched an assault on the lower medium sector with a major support package to boost fleet and retail sales of the Astra. Dealers are being offered £2,000 per car to register up to five Astras during the last week of June as long as they hold on to them until December before selling. In the fleet sector, Vauxhall is offering to support the Astra to the tune of £5,000 by guaranteeing a residual value of 45% of cost new.

FRIENDS of the Earth wants to raise the price of every new car sold by £500. The idea would leave the motor industry sitting on a cash mountain growing at the rate of £1,000 million a year.

GREEN Flag national Breakdown is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the introduction of a superfast mobile information system.

FLEET operators who stayed loyal to hot-hatchback drivers three years ago are being rewarded as the cars go to auction. However, many more fleets have banned the cars from user-chooser lists as insurance companies reacted to the rising tide of car theft by boosting premiums.