HARD SHOULDER:PEUGEOT HAS CONFIRMED prices for its new diesel hybrid 3008 (above), starting at €36,995. Known as the HYbrid4 it's billed as the World's first diesel electric car. The price is over €5,000 more than the current most expensive version of the 3008, but promises four-wheel drive and emissions of just 99g/km, with fuel consumption of 3.8 L/100km (74mpg).
The new hybrid version will be previewed at Peugeot dealerships in February ahead of its April launch. Standard equipment will include alarm and deadlocks, cruise control, dualzone air con, 16” alloys, automatic headlights and wipers, rear parking sensors, bluetooth and USB connectivity.
A higher specification version, with emissions of 104g/km, will retail from €38,695 and adds a two-screen video pack, side rear sunblinds, 17” alloys, satellite navigation, carpet mats, driver seat lumbar adjustment, electric folding mirrors and a folding front passenger seat.
Opel revamp to mark 150 years
OPEL IS MARKING its 150th anniversary with a revamp of its model offering. Starting with the launch of its new Zafira Tourer and the sporty new three-door Astra GTC, the range will be expanded this summer with the arrival of the Ampera range extended electric car.
The Zafira Tourer offers a premium appeal to the brand’s people carrier range, taking interior cues from the Insignia. But with prices starting at €28,495, Opel has decided to continue selling the current Zafira as well.
Meanwhile the new Astra GTC range starts at €23,495 for the 1.4 litre 120 bhp turbo.
While these new cars will offer bigger volume sales, the biggest launch for the brand this year will be the arrival of the Ampera, a range-extender electric car due in showrooms this summer.
With prices likely to be close to €43,000, Opel expects to sell about 20 Amperas this year, growing to 100 or so in a full year of sales.
David Sheeran, managing director of Opel Ireland, predicts the car market this year will remain difficult for dealers, with total new car sales of 75,000.
He says in the current climate profitability and viability of the dealer network is more important than the brand’s ranking in the sales charts although he hopes to retain a 7 per cent market share for the brand. Opel fell out of the top five best selling car brands last year but that may improve this year with a revamp the refresh of its model range.
Garda criticised over road death report fee increase
A ROAD SAFETY group has criticised the Garda for doubling the cost of supplying copies of investigation documents to relatives of a person killed in a road collision. The decision to increase the fees followed a review of the charging structure set up by the Garda Commissioner in 2010.
The increases have led to the cost of a witness statement rising from €21 to €40 and the cost of an abstract report from €41 to €60.
Statements and crash form abstracts are made available to relatives, insurers and legal teams connected with a case.
Parc spokeswoman Susan Gray described the increase as a blow to relatives and said families trying to find out what happened in a collision already face bills of several hundred euro for copies of documents and that this would now rise significantly.
One family, which contacted Parc, was charged over €800 for documents relating to a fatal crash. Susan Henaghan, from Co Sligo, was charged €840 for photocopied statements and documents relating to the crash in which her husband was killed in 2009.
Figures from the Garda show it has collected €3.7 million in fees for copies of documents related to collisions over a seven-year period to the end of 2010. In 2010 €502,118 was paid in crash fees. These funds go directly into the Garda budget.
Gray said that in instances where there was no court hearing arising from a crash, Garda crash documents offer the only information to relatives about what happened. She said charging grieving families this amount for information on a crash was “obscene and inhumane”
She called on Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to put in place a waiver on fee charges for relatives of someone killed in a crash. – DAVID LABANYI
VW recalls 2,000 cars in Ireland over fuel pipe
VOLKSWAGEN GROUP is recalling 2,112 cars here as part of an international recall of nearly 299,000 worldwide. The cars affected feature the firm’s 2.0-litre TDI diesel engine and are from 2009 onwards.
The recall has been instigated due to scoring on some of the fuel pipes which can crack and leak diesel.
It involves 1,963 Volkswagens, 143 Skodas and six Audis in Ireland. Models include some versions of the VW Golf, VW Passat, Skoda Octavia, Skoda Superb and a small number of Audi A3s. No Seat models or Volkswagen commercial vehicles are affected.
A spokesman for VW said customers are being contacted in the coming weeks with details of the repair programme, which involves fitting a vibration absorbing damper to remove the risk of damage occurring.