Leyland municipals
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LEYLAND Trucks has launched the municipal vehicles market.
Over 500 local authority and public utility transport managers and fleet engineers visited Leyland last week to see a presentation based on the recent Audit Commission report on local government fleet management.
The municipal sector is assessed at 10 per cent of the total 3.5 tonnes plus market and therefore represents over 5,000 vehicles a year. Leyland currently places itself third in the British-dominated munici pal market, behind Ford and Dodge but ahead of Bedford.
Leyland aims to increase its 15 to 20 per cent share of the municipal market and believes that Dodge's share looks particularly vulnerable because of the stronger Renault image that Dodge is gaining; the Renault emblem is now carried on the Commando grille.
The 7.5 tonne gvw Roadrunner and the 11 to 16 tonne gvw Freighter lead Leyland's municipal assault but the company points out that it is the only British manufacturer to offer a model in every weight sector. Fleet standardisation is one of the recommendations in the Audit Commission report.
The report also highlights that 40 per cent of local authorities' transport budgets is spent on maintenance, which is more than the capital cost of the vehicles.
It contends that local authorities incur unnecessarily high costs by maintaining their fleets too frequently.
Leyland seized on this point to demonstrate that the Roadrunner and Freighter have lower scheduled maintenance downtime than the competition.