News

Two of Kia's latest vehicles, Sportage and Venga, have both been awarded the top 5-star safety rating by leading independent European safety organisation, Euro NCAP.

The Kia Sportage crossover and Venga B-segment MPV were both given the maximum 5-star rating, placing them at the top of their respective classes and in the distinguished company of other Kia models such as the Soul, cee'd and Sorento.

Kia Sportage obtained scores of 93 per cent for Adult Occupant Protection, 86 per cent for Child Occupant protection, 49 per cent for Pedestrian Protection and 86 per cent for Safety Assist.  Venga scored 89, 85, 64 and 71 respectively, in the same categories.

Sportage and Venga also received praise for having Electronic Stability Control (ESC) fitted as standard in most markets.  "These latest results from Euro NCAP highlight Kia's commitment to ensuring exceptional levels of safety in its vehicles," commented Benny Oeyen, Vice-President, Marketing & Product Planning, Kia Motors Europe.

"In the first instance, Kia's engineers strive to design vehicles that make it easier for drivers to avoid hazards, thanks to good visibility, powerful braking and excellent road holding.  However, in the event that an accident is unavoidable, Kia owners also have peace of mind that they and their passengers are protected by the very best passive safety technology," Oeyen concluded.

The Kia Venga was originally tested in early 2010 and was awarded a four-star rating.  Not content with a less-than-perfect score, Kia's engineers subsequently made a number of minor changes to the car and brought Venga back to Euro NCAP for retesting.  The revised model specification, which entered production in September 2010, performed strongly in all test areas to secure the maximum 5-star rating.

All Vengas sold in Europe offer buyers ABS with Brake Assist System (BAS), Electronic Stability Control (ESC) with Hill Assist Control (HAC), six airbags (dual front, side and full-length curtain), front passenger airbag cut-off switch, active front head rests, all-round three-point seatbelts with front-belt pre-tensioners and reminder warning, ISOFIX child seat top tethers and anchors and impact-sensing auto door unlocking.

Sportage buyers will find front, side and full-length curtain airbags with rollover sensor, front passenger airbag cut-off switch, active headrests, ABS, EBD, ESC with Downhill Brake Control (DBC), Cornering Brake Control (CBC), adaptive brake lights, all-round three-point seatbelts with front-belt pre-tensioners and load-limiters and ISOFIX child seat top tethers and anchor fixings all as standard across the European model range.

Driving in the winter months

We care about your way of life and want you to enjoy a safe and secure journey whatever the weather. Through the winter months, cold temperatures, packed snow and icy patches can have a real impact on the traction and grip of your standard tyres.

Winter tyres really work

When temperatures drop below 7 °C, standard tyres harden and lose flexibility, this can affect braking, accelerating and cornering. Winter tyres are carefully designed to handle wintery conditions, giving you maximum grip, increased traction and greater control.

Winter tyres are not just snow tyres

Winter tyres are not only important in snow. The tread patterns are designed to absorb moisture, and the rubber compound is adapted to greatly improve braking and traction in cold, wet, icy and snowy conditions.

Avoiding other drivers

Studies show that winter tyres can have a real impact on reducing accidents in bad weather; a good quality winter tyre can improve braking by up to 25% and collision avoidance by 38%*. So the drive is safer for everyone on the road.

Winter tyres mean peace of mind

No matter how many electronic driver aids your car is fitted with, the ability to maintain grip is determined by your tyres. The expense of outfitting your vehicle with winter tyres is nothing compared to the reassurance of protecting the core stability of your vehicle.

Order your Winter Tyres Now

Are you looking for an electric-powered city car? Toyota is putting its alternative fuel and EV expertise into the smallest car in the range, the award-winning iQ.

Hot on the heels of the global debut of the RAV4 EV concept at the LA Auto Show, Toyota has officially announced that it will begin European road trials of an iQ EV concept from next year. The trial is another step forward for Toyota’s plan to use alternative power sources to develop low carbon vehicles that are less dependent on fossil fuels.

Utilising principles shown in the FT-EV II concept car (pictured above) that we saw at this year’s Paris motor show, the iQ EV is scheduled to go on sale in the USA in 2012. Toyota is also looking into making the car available in other markets, including Europe, Japan and China.

Of course, this isn’t the only trial involving Toyota’s future technology - the Prius PHV lease programme is currently taking place in the UK. The full production version of the plug-in Prius will go on sale in Europe, Japan and the USA from early 2012.

With 11 hybrid vehicles planned for launch worldwide by the end of 2012, we look forward to bringing you more news as soon as it’s announced.

The RRG Group is aiming to get 100 ‘willing’ volunteers from across the Group to take part in next year’s Greater Manchester Run.

To date the interest has been extremely positive with many enthusiastic volunteers already signed up – however we are still slightly short of our 100 target!

If you haven’t registered your interested yet, please get in touch as soon as possible. We raised a staggering £5,481.00 for a worthwhile fund this year and we would so like to beat that next year!!!

Only open to RRG Group employees.

To register your interest or nominate a charity, please contact newsletter@rrg-group.com

In order to further add value to our existing business customers and raise awareness amongst new potential business clients, The RRG Group have developed a free app for IPhone users.

iClaimit allows users to keep track of their expenses and mileage with the option of using the camera phone to snap information such as receipts which can later simply be downloaded in CSV format for submission to accounts teams.

With one time saving button press, users can also keep a simple track of all their mileage and work out their expense claim.

Within days of launch the app reached number one on the iTunes ‘What’s Hot Finance section.”

RRG Group Marketing Manager Nikki Jolley, said: “We always try to be different in our approach to business and marketing, and seek to give our customers much more than simply a new car.
“It’s genuinely exciting for us to launch iClaimit and see its instant success. We wanted to crate an app that added real value for its users, was easy to use and takes away the tedium of claiming expenses. Making it free for everyone made sense as we want as many people as possible to be using it.”

Download the iClaimit APP now