For fleet managers in Europe, as elsewhere, the easy gains in safety performance are over

By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

While Europe’s roads remain among the world’s safest, the latest figures show that the European Union’s goal of cutting traffic fatalities in half by 2020 is at risk of slipping away. Worse, the underlying causes indicate that, as in the United States, traffic fatalities and accidents may be poised for a dramatic increase.

In 2011, the 28-nation European Union, in concert with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, formally adopted the goal of halving the E.U.’s motor vehicle deaths from 31,500 in 2010 to just 15,750 by the end of the decade. Considering that fatalities had been reduced at nearly that rate over the prior 10 years, the goal seemed reachable.

From 54,900 in 2001, over the first decade of the 21^st century, E.U. road fatalities declined by 43%, an average of 5.4% year. A number of factors contributed to the trend, including advances in road design and repair, traffic enforcement and automotive safety technology. But it’s apparent now that another factor made a healthy contribution: fewer people on the road due a slower economy.

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A needs analysis is a crucial step to understanding where users have problems performing a task, and which problems are most aggravating

By Wendy Eichenbaum

You’re at the grocery store walking to your car. It’s drizzling. Your hands are full of groceries. You can’t reach your key or press the button on the trunk that syncs with your key. We’ve all experienced this pain point.

But what is the primary pain point for you? Is it that you have to put the groceries down, often where there is little room and cars are circling for a space? Or is it that the ground is wet and dirty, so now you’ll get the car’s interior dirty? The answer to that question will affect your design need.

You need to understand the root of your customers’ pain before you design a solution. You can find this root by conducting a needs analysis with your target audience.

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“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

By Susan A. Lund, President of MR³

Last session, we talked about how selling is a lot like driving. Let’s face it, some drive for performance and others don’t. I have always been intrigued with what’s the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t. What is the difference?

The difference between those who drive for performance and those who don’t is all in how they prepare, plan and focus. What do you do to plan to sell?

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While Lexus and Porsche nameplates lead the industry in vehicle dependability, owners of many high-volume vehicles are also rewarded with excellent long-term quality, according to the J.D. Power 2017 Vehicle Dependability Study^SM (VDS), released today.

The study, now in its 28^th year, examines problems experienced during the past 12 months by original owners of 2014 model-year vehicles. Overall dependability is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality.

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INRIX, Inc. published its all-new Global Traffic Scorecard. Based on a new methodology, INRIX analyzed 1,064 cities – 240 in the U.S. – across 38 countries, making it the largest ever study of traffic congestion.

Based on the findings, the U.S. ranked as the first most congested developed country in the world, with drivers spending an average of 42 hours a year in traffic during peak hours.

For the first time, the INRIX Traffic Scorecard also includes the direct and indirect costs of congestion to all U.S. drivers, which amounted to nearly $300 billion in 2016, an average of $1,400 per driver

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TU Automotive

The race is on for in-car payment capabilities with tech giants taking on automotive players Shell and Jaguar. 

At the grand opening of its $200M (£161M) IBM Watson IoT headquarters last week in Munich, IBM announced that it is teaming up with Visa to extend secure payment capabilities into any connected device on the planet.

That could be a washing machine in a launderette in London. It could be a smartwatch on a wrist in Senegal. It could be the hatchback in your garage.

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What fleet managers need to know about the upcoming FASB accounting rule changes

By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

New rules for how publicly traded companies account for fleet vehicle operating leases start to take effect this year, but it appears that other than complying with the paperwork requirements, the general consensus among both fleet leasing companies and accounting firms is that they won’t change the way core fleet decisions are made.

The real aim of the new rule isn’t to change the way fleets do business, but to provide full disclosure to investors about how much money fleet operators owe by putting both sides of the lease on a company’s balance sheet. To clarify, I offer this little bit of review.

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Wharton

There is growing evidence that tomorrow’s urban cars will be “safe, green and connected,” Mary Gustanski, Delphi’s vice president of engineering, recently told Car Talk. “We’re going to see more electrification, and the electric car will merge with automated driving and the connected car.”

Electric vehicles (EVs) now hold just a 1% share of the global fleet on the road, but it could comprise 15% to 35% of total global new vehicle sales by 2040, according to IHS Markit. Worldwide sales are up more than 1,000% since 2010.

In Europe and China, where regulation encourages plug-ins, EVs could be more than half of new passenger vehicle sales by 2040 — the same time fully autonomous cars are expected to rule the roads.

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What does unexpected service mean in your industry?

By Laura Jozwiak, Senior Vice President of Sales and Client Relations, Wheels, Inc.

I was recently traveling on a pretty typical flight but had an atypical experience. As we settled into our seats and turned off our cell phones, the captain greeted us. Only it wasn’t over the loud speaker, it was in person.

“Welcome to American, I’m Captain Chris. Anyone been to Colorado before? Anyone been on one of my flights before? Anyone ski? I just took up skiing a few weeks ago and believe me, you will appreciate falling into all the fresh fallen snow.” And while this exchange only lasted a few minutes, he engaged all the passengers while providing some insight into himself, his personality and interests. In just a few short minutes, we got to know Captain Chris much better.

But he didn’t stop there.

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Bloomberg

Mexico’s top trade negotiator doubled down on threats to break off talks to rework Nafta, saying his country will walk away if the U.S. insists on slapping duties or quotas on any products from south of the border.

“The moment that they say, ‘We’re going to put a 20 percent tariff on cars,’ I get up from the table,” Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in an interview. “Bye-bye.”

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