Britain’s biggest driving school has dumped Vauxhall, the British arm of the troubled General Motors group, and is switching to Fiat cars.

BSM, formerly the British School of Motoring, is ending a 16-year relationship with the company by swapping its basic learner vehicle from the Vauxhall Corsa to the Fiat 500.

The move is a blow to GM, which might expect to sell thousands of cars to beginner drivers, who tend to buy the car in which they learn to drive.

According to BSM, about 70 per cent of learners who pass the test buy the model of car in which they learnt. BSM claims a much higher pass rate than the national average of 43 per cent.

Fiat will supply 14,000 cars to BSM over four years in a marketing deal that will attempt to inject a bit of Italian styling into a century-old British brand, boosting the motoring school’s image among its younger customers.

Within three weeks BSM franchisees will begin taking delivery of Fiat 500 cars to replace the existing Vauxhall Corsa models.

In return for supplying 3,500 cars to BSM outlets every year, the Italian company will put the motoring school’s 130,000 learners behind the wheel of its retro-styled Cinquecento, tapping into a potentially rich market for its new model.

As a sweetener, the deal will enable BSM drivers who pass their test to buy a Fiat car at a discount of £500, on top of any dealer’s offer. There is a waiting list of between two and three months for a standard Fiat 500. The list price is £8,300.

Abu Shafi, BSM’s chief executive, said the Corsa no longer appealed to its core customers, who tended to be young and female and wanted to drive a fashionable car. A survey conducted by BSM over the past three months showed that 73 per cent of customers were aged between 17 and 25 and about 60 per cent were female.

“We do have a high proportion of female drivers,” he said. “The vehicles that appeal to them are small — Peugeot and Mini are popular driving school vehicles.” The search for a new car was triggered by Vauxhall, which said earlier this year that it would no longer supply vehicles free of charge to BSM.

The future of the troubled British brand is in doubt and the US carmaker is embroiled in talks that may lead to the sale of GM Europe to a Belgian, Canadian or Chinese buyer.

The Fiat 500 is made in Poland, while the current Corsa model used by BSM is made in Spain. However, GM is likely to suffer a significant loss of market share in Britain as a result of BSM’s decision.

Fiat said the BSM deal “puts us right where we want to be — in the high streets of Britain’s towns and cities, demonstrating to new motorists the delights of driving a new Fiat”.

BSM, which is owned by Arques Industries, a German private equity firm, would not provide financial details of its deal with Fiat. The Italian company said the cars would not be supplied free of charge. “We wouldn’t do a deal that didn’t make a contribution to the margin,” a Fiat spokesman said.

The motoring school had meetings with 17 motor manufacturers over a three-month period before making its selection. The Fiat 500 was marginally more expensive than the Corsa, Mr Shafi said, but was better on fuel economy, safety and emissions.

A marketing campaign would accompany the introduction of the new cars and Fiat would contribute financially to the effort, Mr Shafi said. Advertising would focus on the Italian image and BSM had considered a nod to old movies. “We thought of sending the instructors to Italy to pick up the first cars and drive them back.”

‘Bubble’ bursts through

• Appealing to the recent taste for all things retro and vintage, Fiat has launched its Fiat Nuova 500 range, first seen on Italian streets as the bubble-shaped Fiat 500 in 1957. Even Jeremy Clarkson has called it “the most successful comeback of them all”.

• The new model Corsa, the Corsa D, was co-developed by Opel and Fiat, and is marketed as a Vauxhall in Britain. Clarkson was less impressed with the Corsa. He said: “It did, just, as a device for driving schools, but if I’d learnt to drive in a Corsa I’d have done one lesson and given up on the whole business of cars. The bus would have seemed a better option.”

• The Corsa has long been the archetypal “small car” and was voted Britain’s best supermini in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

• The Corsa’s popularity soon led car makers to seek a successor to its crown, and it was overtaken by the Ford Fiesta in 2005.

• The standard Vauxhall Corsa costs about £9,300, compared with £7,900 for the Fiat 500, which produces 69bhp compared with 80bhp in the Vauxhall.

• Though the Vauxhall’s 104mph top speed can outrun the 99mph Fiat, the Vauxhall does 48.7 mpg, while the Fiat runs at 55.4mpg.

• Learner drivers will have only five gears to grapple with in the Fiat, compared with six in the Corsa.

• The Vauxhall Corsa VXR can reach 140mph compared with 127mph in the Fiat 500 Abarth and has 189bhp compared with 135bhp in the Fiat. The VXR will, however, cost you nearly £2,000 more at £15,625.

From : Times online

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