Is it just me, or is everyone else living this year in the fast lane?

It seems like only yesterday I was lining up the road tests for my edition and here I am now, wrapping up the year that was 2018!

It’s hardly been a year of disasters for the auto industry however, with October registrations absolutely destroying the myth that rising fuel costs are going to put us all back on pushbikes or horses.

Sorry Jacinda, if you want less cars on the road, your'e going to have to try a different tack – or should that be tax?

I shouldn’t be giving her Highness any ideas, should I? Especially since the as-yet fiscally unburdened EV market is still in growth and development mode.

We are seeing the EV market coming along nicely and in fact, we have quite a collection of them coming up in road reports this month.

There’s quite a healthy selection of brands and breeds of ‘leccy vehicles out there right now, and they are all still novel enough that points of difference can’t yet be classified as things counting for or against one EV manufacturer from the next.

I think this may change by about March of next year, and that’s when you’ll see some brickbats going out with the bouquets for our EV producers, because not all EVS/BHEVS/PHEVS are created equal – even among their own tribes.

Added to which, there are other alternatively fuelled vehicles available, which shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed; diesels for example, which are still being developed to be cleaner and more environmentally-friendly. There’s a bit of a barney coming up here, methinks… watch this space.

And that segues neatly into our friendly annual reminder: it’s the Silly Season warning time again folks, and no, we’re not going to bang on about drink driving or overindulgences, but we are going to suggest it’s a good idea to get those fleet vehicle maintenance issues looked at sooner rather than later.

Workshops hate this time of year because everyone wants everything serviced, warranted and Cof’d yesterday, so don’t go trying for your service centre’s Dickhead of the Year award by leaving it all to the last minute, ‘kay? Get in early and have yourself a worry-free little Christmas.

On the subject of annual awards (see how I got here?) Nzcompanyvehicle and NZ4WD (the roughnecks) have seen through their respective awards for 2018 and the ones you’ll be interested in are showcased in this issue.

If those maintenance issues for your fleet have gone into the too hard Christmas stocking, go ask Santa CFO for a fleet upgrade under the corporate Christmas tree. It is, after all, a most magical time of the year.

You can find some tips on things to look for in our vehicle acquisitions feature too.

Well, as odd as it may seem, I’m going to sign off here, because I have one of those massive project features to get started on to give you all something to read in the first edition of next year.

So that’s us for another year folks, stay tuned to our Nzcompanyvehicle website for those videos, I know the talent’s a bit rough, but he’s trying! And the more watchers we get, the more we can branch out, so you can watch or read to see what’s happening out there. For now though, I wish you and yours a very enjoyable Christmas and look forward to a profitable New Year for your business.usin

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