Company cars from Vauxhall look set to come complete with their own built in telematics system in the near future, as the car maker has now announced a program designed to benefit Small to Medium Enterprises (SME) and their fleet managers, by providing them with a way to keep track of employee vehicles’ efficiency, fuel usage, location and driver behaviour.
The hardware and software behind it all will be Telogis branded and will come as an extension of its already existing scheme with GM, after the automaker bought a large stake in the firm. This only makes sense, as Vauxhall is the British arm of General motors, also operating as Opal on the continent.
The particular Telematics package that is expected to be used, is Telogi’s OnStar system, which it already offers as part of GM vehicle packages in the United States. However Vauxhall business cars will now be equipped before delivery to enterprises in the UK. The integration should be good too, as Telogis and GM have been working together since 2011 to offer telematics systems to business customers.
OnStar is a world renowned telematics system, allowing fleet managers to keep track of important information like how the driver is performing with Vauxhall fleet management – whether they’re braking or accelerating too hard and whether they take into consideration best fuel usage practices – as well as vehicle usage – when, where and how it’s been driven – and the fuel economy of the vehicle, letting the fleet manager make their service more efficient, as well as keeping drivers and the vehicle itself safer.
Ed Peper, US vice president, GM Fleet and Commercial, said: “The ability for all GM fleet customers – including those Vauxhall customers in the UK – to pull this kind of data off of their vehicles is one of the biggest differentiators in the fleet and commercial industry. From Vauxhall fleet news:
“Telogis Fleet for GM will be a complete game-changer for our customers by helping them optimise their businesses,” he said.
Vauxhall staff of course couldn’t let GM take all the limelight with the public statements however and pushed forward Paul Adler, Vauxhall’s fleet marketing and motability manager, who said:
“This is very much a work in progress for Vauxhall but when it does launch it will offer a fantastic business proposition to SMEs.”
What will be interesting to see, is if this gives Vauxhall any sort of advantage in terms of fleet vehicles sales in the UK or even Vauxhall fleet hire. Telematics remain a pretty undersold and mis-understood technology, so it’s not proven as a massive sales point for vehicles in the UK, even if its uptake and public acceptance is growing substantially.
So what about it fleet managers? If you’re reading this and are inn-charge of vehicle purchasing at your SME, does this make you more interested in picking up something from Vauxhall? Will it improve Vauxhall fleet sales? Or are you not that fussed?
[Thanks BusinessCar]
See also our article Vauxhall issues safety warning on Adam, Corsa and Corsavan.
