Automotive Fleet

OCT 2013

Magazine for the car and truck fleet and leasing industry

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INDUSTRY NEWS New York State Designates 'Texting Zones' for Drivers Te State of New York plans to create what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's ofce is calling "Texting Zones," areas where motorists can pull of the road and use their mobile devices. Existing Park-n-Ride facilities, rest stops, and other parking areas along the state's Truway and highways will function as Texting Zones and the state intends to place signage along the highway to inform drivers where these zones are located. Te state is planning to place a total of 298 signs, according to the governor's ofce. Te state also announced a major increase in the number of tickets for distracted driving that New York State Police have issued, at 365 percent when comparing summer 2013 to summer 2012. Last year state police issued a total of 5,208 tickets and this year (2013) the state issued 21,580 tickets. To view a full list of the New York designated texting zones visit Automotive Fleet's website at www.automotivefeet.com Keywords: New York. 2014-MY Chevrolet Sonic Adds New Safety Features General Motors is adding new safety features to its 2014-MY Chevrolet Sonic, including a rear-vision camera, forward collision alert, and lane departure warning system. Two features, forward collision alert and lane departure warning, are available on all models except for the base LS model (the Sonic is available in LS, LT, LTZ, and RS models for 2014). Te rearvision camera is standard on the LTZ and RS models and available on the LT. Koss to Retire From Ford's Fleet Division Gerry Koss, feet marketing manager for Ford, announced he will retire, efective Oct. 31, 2013, afer a 32-year career with the automaker. Koss has been in his present assignment for Ford's North American Fleet Leasing & Remarketing Operations (NAFLRO) division since 2001. Ford stated that Koss has been instrumental in the overall growth of Ford's feet volume and market share. "When I came over to the feet organization, our director wanted to create a department to focus on increased integration of feet into other areas of the company," Koss explained. "Because of my background in sales and marketing, product development, and product strategy, I jumped at the opportunity to take this on, and we created a separate feet marketing and brand organization to begin the integration." Koss began working for Ford in Dearborn, Mich., with the customer service organization. From there, he took on various roles in regional ofces in Denver; Houston; Bufalo, N.Y.; and Teterboro, N.J. He then returned to Dearborn as the Red Carpet Lease program coordinator. Koss next transferred to the Lincoln-Mercury organization in a marketing role where he focused on the launch of new models. Afer his time with Lincoln-Mercury, he went to Ford of Europe and was responsible for launching personal leasing products in selected European countries. Later, he became the product marketing manager for the Mondeo vehicle program. As for the Ford feet organization, Koss said the team is poised to take on new challenges and continue the expansion of the role of feet within Ford, and achieve further growth in the industry. Regarding his future plans, Koss said that frst, "I'm going to take some time of and let everything settle in. Tis will give Barb and me the opportunity to spend some more time at our place in Florida. But, I anticipate, afer a little time of, my focus will be planning for what Gerry Koss, feet marketing manager the next chapter in my life will be. I have thoroughly for Ford, is retiring after 32 years with the automaker. Koss has been instru- enjoyed my years with Ford especially having the opmental in the overall growth of Ford's portunity to work directly with customers in the feet feet volume and market share. industry." Don't wait another month to fnd out what's going on in the industry. Get the latest feet news at www.automotive-feet.com/news. 10 AUTOMOTIVE FLEET I OCTOBER 2013 PHOTO: CHEVROLET Web Xclusive: ARI Acquires German Fleet Business In July, ARI acquired the feet management segment of Germany-based Fleetlevel+ Services GmbH. Te acquisition furthers ARI's ongoing initiative to expand its strategic global footprint. Automotive Fleet Editor Mike Antich recently spoke with ARI President Carl Ortell about the acquisition for an AF Web Xclusive, which can be accessed at http://bit.ly/1apHllf or by scanning the QR code to the right. Errata: Update to Piemonte Listing: The listing for Piemonte in the Dealer portion of the 2013 AF Fact Book should have included Ford as one of the makes sold.

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