OUR OTHER FLEET SITES

July 31, 2008

In Tuesday’s blog, I likened predicting the future to a billiard game to illustrate that seemingly unrelated events can influence the future direction of the fleet market – events we may never see coming. With this in mind, let’s rack up our hypothetical balls, placing the “fleet ball” in the center of the rack. Let’s whack the cue ball to see what new fleet scenario may unfold from this catalyst. In this new analogy, the cue ball catalyst is a relatively recent concept called hyperconnectivity.

Tags: hyperconnectivity, IPv6, web-enabled

July 28, 2008

Predicting the future has been likened to a billiard game. The cue ball is the catalyst – representing a seminal event – that upon crashing into a racked set of balls triggers not only the initial reaction, but numerous unanticipated secondary and tertiary reactions. When the cue ball strikes its target, it unleashes unanticipated dynamics of balls deflecting off other careening balls, ultimately changing all of their trajectories. Let’s expand the analogy by making “fleet” one of the balls.

Tags: Budget Deficit, National Debt, Taxation, UK Fleet

July 25, 2008

The greatest catalyst for change in fleet management in the next 10 years will be "technology." It is getting increasingly expensive to operate a fleet. There are diminishing opportunities to reduce cost and enhance fleet efficiency using traditional fleet management techniques. A growing number of companies are investigating (or are more receptive) to technology-based fleet solutions. Looking ahead, here are my predictions as to how technology will change fleet management in the next 10 years.

Tags: fleet management companies, System-to-System Integration, technological change

July 21, 2008

The high cost of raw materials, in addition to the high cost of fuel, is starting to make a financial impact on fleets by increasing costs for truck chassis, bodies, trailers, liftgates, and other upfit equipment. On July 9, Navistar announced that rising commodity costs have forced the company to increase prices of International truck models. Is this another in a series of commodity-related price increases that we will see from other OEMs, upfitters, and trailer manufacturers?

Tags: commodity prices, price increases, rising prices

July 18, 2008

Today's new-vehicle market will generate (ultimately) the used-vehicle market of tomorrow. If there is a decrease in new-vehicle sales, there will be a corresponding decrease in the future number of used vehicles in the marketplace. Even though there is a lot of nervousness in the market, no one is anticipating a dramatic decrease in new-vehicle commercial fleet orders for the 2009 model-year. However, the same cannot be said for the retail new-vehicle market.

Tags: 2009 model-year, new-vehicle market, new-vehicle sales

July 15, 2008

A combination of market forces have converged to create a “perfect storm” to drive down resale values for pickup trucks by 15-25 percent. These convergent forces are higher fuel prices, tighter consumer credit, and a stagnant construction market. As a result, the pool of buyers (hence market demand) for used trucks has contracted, putting downward pressure on resale prices.

Tags: four-cylinder, remarketing, resale value, truck resale

July 11, 2008

Although fleet is extremely important to automakers, the reality is that retail sales and retail considerations drive many OEM decisions. Currently, retail buyers are demanding four-cylinder engines in what appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to paying, on average, $4.03 per gallon for gasoline. Franchise dealers just don’t have enough four-cylinders in inventory to meet this demand and they are clamoring for more product.

Tags: 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, order-to-delivery, OTD

July 7, 2008

I believe “location privacy” has a strong potential to become a hot-button societal issue in the next decade. It will focus on privacy infringement and potential abuse due to the pervasiveness of GPS-based products and services. These long-term implications frighten many privacy advocates. Unfortunately, I believe fleet management will be swept up into this controversy.

Tags: location privacy, Privacy Laws

July 3, 2008

On average, 20 percent of fleet vehicles are involved in accidents each year. Although this percentage has remained steady from 2005-2007, the cost of repairing these vehicles is rising.

Tags: Accident Management, costs, trends