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05/12/2011 Paragon launches Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence Paragon, the UK's leading fleet vehicle processing and specialist fleet management company, has announced the launch of its new Centre of Excellence. Run exclusively from Paragon's site in Upper Heyford, the facility will be a dedicated electric vehicle centre capable of managing and processing electric vehicle fleets. The Centre of Excellence will benefit from workshop and bodyshop technicians who specialise in electric vehicles along with specialist workshop bays. Additionally, the Centre will include a dedicated storage facility for electric vehicles along with a range of charging points – with the option to install bespoke charging points for individual manufacturer specifications.
Neil Burrows, Group Sales & Marketing Director comments: “This year, more manufacturers are bringing electric vehicles into their press and demonstration fleets and their presence in the sector will increase as fleet managers and business buyers need to evaluate new products as they come onto the market. Because of this, Paragon is investing in specialist training and facilities to embrace emerging technologies so that these vehicles can be effectively managed on behalf of fleet owners. We want to demonstrate that, with the right technical expertise, electric vehicles can be maintained and remarketed as easily as traditional vehicles.”
Andrew Hetzel, Managing Director at Paragon Fleet Solutions continues: “We are extremely pleased to announce the launch our new Centre of Excellence at Upper Heyford and look forward to managing and processing electric vehicles in the future – encouraging clean, green vehicles as a step in the right direction for UK fleet.”
Paragon is the UK’s leading fleet vehicle processing and captive fleet management company, providing an integral part of sales support to many vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators.
09/11/2011 Paragon Fleet Solutions opens JLR handover site Paragon, the UK's leading fleet vehicle processing and specialist fleet management company, is celebrating the opening of its newly expanded and refurbished Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) handover site at Swallowfield Farm in Warwickshire - the dedicated handover site for all Paragon managed JLR company vehicles. Paragon Fleet Solutions has been managing and operating the handover site on behalf of JLR for over two years. It has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment and expansion programme to provide a state-of-the-art handover facility. The refurbished site now has the capability to handover more cars and provides a higher quality experience for JLR employees. With the handover centre situated within metres of JLR’s existing 900-acre Gaydon site, it forms a core part of JLR’s company vehicle distribution network.
All the JLR vehicles prepared by Paragon will now be transferred to Swallowfield for final inspections and will be individually presented to the relevant JLR employee. Additionally, the handover centre will be a base for returning cars enabling the JLR employee to drive their new vehicle straight away. Returned JLR vehicles will then be moved to a specialist refurbishment centre in Corby and offered to the dealer network for resale.
The expansion at the Paragon site comes in support of a recently secured three-year agreement with JLR to continue the management of its company car fleet. The Paragon Team will be responsible for managing the entire handover process, from appointment booking, to the vehicle movement, and handover, to the preparation of the contractual paperwork for every vehicle.
Commenting on the new site, Andrew Hetzel, Managing Director of Paragon Fleet Solutions said: “The extension at Swallowfield is the result of a significant increase in the supply of JLR vehicles to Paragon due to the company’s exciting and rapid growth over the last couple of years. Having a dedicated Jaguar Land Rover site and management team at Swallowfield will ensure that JLR staff experience the most efficient and streamlined handover process, minimising down-time and providing a high quality experience.”
Paragon Fleet Solutions has worked with Jaguar Land Rover since 2009 and is responsible for the PDI, transport and handover all the JLR company cars. Paragon also manages other fleets of vehicles for JLR, such as demonstration and VIP customer fleets.
04/10/2011 Paragon Fleet Solutions appoints Operations General Manager 
Paragon Fleet Solutions has announced the appointment of Ian Maddy as Operations General Manager at its site at Upper Heyford. Ian brings more than 20 years of fleet industry experience with him, having spent a large proportion of his career at BT Fleet – a subsidiary of BT. As fleet management director and later network services director at BT Fleet, Ian had responsibility for 80 in-house UK wide workshops.
In his new role at Paragon, Ian will oversee operational activities at Upper Heyford and will have responsibility for all elements of vehicle operations across the site; from preparation to defleet and refurbishment. Alongside this, Ian will be in charge of implementing technical improvements at the site and ensuring business objectives are met, whilst helping to maintain Paragon’s high standard of customer service.
Discussing his appointment, Ian Maddy said: “I am delighted to have joined Paragon – a company at the forefront of fleet management. A key focus for me will be ensuring Paragon Fleet Solutions continues to operate effectively and efficiently at all levels. I look forward to a prosperous future with the company.”
Andrew Hetzel, Managing Director of Paragon Fleet Solutions said: “Ian brings a wealth of experience and expertise of fleet management to the role, adding significant value to the management team. His experience at senior levels across the industry makes him ideally suited to manage our dedicated fleet solutions site, ensuring we continue to deliver excellent service for our customers.”
Paragon Fleet Solutions provides captive and specialist fleet management for press, demonstrator and employee fleets complete with specific fleet administration services. This is managed from a dedicated site at Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire. To further support the sales process, Paragon offers a tailor made, single source fleet management solution process through our sales support service, Intelifleet.
05/09/2011 Paragon sponsored Olympic hopeful takes World champion title 
Paragon Groups own Olympic hopeful John Paul made his way home to Oxfordshire last month as the new Junior World Champion, after setting a new British sprint record and winning gold at the World Junior Track Championships in Moscow. After contesting at different ‘knock-out’ phases throughout the weekend of races, the 18-year-old gave a superb performance that saw him smash the British Junior record in the 200 metre individual track sprint, with a time of 10.175 seconds, making him the new champion. Upon qualifying into the final race, John competed against Frenchman Julien Palma and clinched the title in the ride off, winning gold.
On returning to the UK, there was no rest for John who headed straight to the British National Championship in Manchester and claimed victory yet again, winning the National Junior Sprint title for the second year running.
With several achievements already under his belt, including a fourth place sprint position at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and being named Oxfordshire Junior Sportsperson, the star of the velodrome reached another career high point in July by securing two gold medals in the junior European Track Cycling Championships.
For his recent win at Moscow, John, originally from Caithness in Scotland, was awarded the coveted Rainbow Jersey, worn by the reigning world champion of every cycling discipline in all of their future races.
Neil Burrows, Sales & Marketing Director at Paragon Group said: “We are very proud of John and have no doubt we are sponsoring Britain’s next biggest sporting star. His latest achievements show he has real potential of being selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and bringing home the medals.”
Delighted by his winning streak, John said: “I was so nervous for this season’s last week of racing - especially at Moscow as there were about 50 top sprinters there. To come out on top is such an amazing feeling. I still can’t believe that I’ve not only set the world record for British Junior in track, but also managed to win another national title just days later in Manchester.” Commenting on the partnership with Paragon, he continued: “The support Paragon has given me over the last few months has been excellent. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
31/08/2011 Paragon Automotive appoints Rental Account Manager 
Paragon Automotive has announced the appointment of Rebecca Long as Rental Account Manager with full responsibility for the company's Europcar account. Rebecca joins Paragon this month bringing with her a wealth of experience, having spent the last three years at Volvo Logistics as a key account manager on their Jaguar Land Rover contract and the two years before this as the Aston Martin account manager at Ontime Automotive. She also has direct rental market experience having previously worked at TLS Vehicle Rental for three years.
Commenting on her new role, Rebecca said: “I am delighted to join Paragon, and am privileged to be given the opportunity to head one of the top accounts. My primary focus is to strengthen Europcar’s relationship with Paragon and further advance the high standards of service they have enjoyed up to now.”
Neil Burrows, Group Sales and Marketing Director, Paragon said: “The incorporation of Rebecca within our team is part of our strategy to develop our service and support to our customers. We have been strengthening our rental team and expanding our resource to ensure we provide first class service to our rental customers. A dedicated account manager will ensure that Europcar gets the maximum benefit from our services year round, with Rebecca serving as a personal expert who will facilitate and streamline every interaction Europcar has with us.”
21/07/2011 Paragon Group appoints new Finance Director 
Paragon Group is pleased to announce it has appointed Kevin Riddle as the new Group Finance Director. Kevin Riddle joined the Group on 4 July and brings a wealth of knowledge with 25 years industry experience under his belt. Having been employed in various financial and general management roles, Kevin has spent a large part of his career working at Spicers, Hays Logistics and Kuehne + Nagel. Most recently, he has spent the last 10 years as Finance Director working in market sectors including contract logistics, supply chain, transport and international freight forwarding. In his new role, he will have responsibility of all Group Finance functions and activities.
Commenting on his new role, Kevin said: “I am delighted to join Paragon Group, a market leader with a strong reputation as a dynamic and progressive business. I aim to build on the success of the group and work with the rest of the Paragon team to further develop and expand the business over the coming months and years.”
Stephen Hucklesby, Group Managing Director of Paragon commented: “The position of Finance Director is a vital one to the future success of Paragon Group and our continued focus on the best possible service for our customers. I am confident that Kevin’s invaluable experience and remarkable previous success will stand us in good stead as we drive plans for company development and focus on further growth.”
He continued: “Kevin arrives at Paragon at a time when business is strong at all of our sites, and we are confident for the future. His appointment completes the make-up of the restructured Paragon Board and will strengthen our expert leadership team to move the company on to the next level of success and ensure we maintain the standards of excellence that our customers expect.”
05/07/2011 Paragon Group makes major investment in carbon reduction programme Paragon, the UK's leading fleet vehicle processing and specialist fleet management company has invested over 4 million pounds to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint. The investment includes the acquisition of 34 new fuel efficient, lower emission Scania tractor units, as well as the installation of a new system on all vehicles to help track and minimise engine idling. Paragon has chosen to secure the 34-strong fleet of lower emission vehicles ahead of new standards being introduced by Transport for London (TfL). From January 2012, all vehicles entering the London Low Emission Zone will be required to comply with the Euro IV standard for particulate matter (PM). This means that any lorries, buses and heavy specialist vehicles of a Euro III standard or earlier will no longer be able to enter the capital freely. As a result, Paragon has acquired a total of 34 new, state of the art Scania transporter units from Truck East Ltd. Jake Mummery, Paragon Group Logistics Director said: “With the high penalty charges for operators of non compliant vehicles being introduced next year, fleet managers need to take action now.” He continued: “Though it is essential to meet the emissions standards set by TfL, Paragon sees this investment as a step in the right direction to set clean green standards. With carbon emissions from UK industry running into millions of tonnes per year, it is important that that the automotive fleet sector does all that it can.”
In addition, earlier this year, the electric-powered onboard idle-reduction equipment Track-it-Now was installed on three of the company’s vehicles for a trial period of four months. To help understand how engine idling times can contribute to fuel costs and carbon emissions, fuel consumption was monitored when the vehicles were stationary and the engine was idle. The data revealed that there was a potential waste from idling of 154,788 litres of fuel per year.
As such, Paragon assigned a member of the team to manage the three test drivers, monitoring idling times and giving guidance to show alternatives. The results were astonishing and showed a dramatic reduction of 69% in engine idling, a figure that, if applied across Paragon’s entire fleet, could mean a reduction in CO2 output by 410 tonnes per year.
Commenting on the system, Jake Mummery said: “We have demonstrated that carbon reporting is not a burden but instead has environmental value and can enable the business to reduce operating costs.” He said: “We now have the proof that cost and carbon savings could be made, and are pleased to announce that we will be installing the system in all of the company’s vehicles.”
“We have seen carbon management become an important business issue over the last couple of years and it’s now a key part of the sustainability agenda. Our investment proves that we’re taking our environmental impact and financial management very seriously, also demonstrating our plan to keep investing in the future of the business.”
15/04/2011 Paragon to support Volkswagen Racing Cup Paragon Group is delighted to confirm that it will be sponsoring the 2011 Volkswagen Racing Cup - Britain's best supported one-make racing series. This season, the series features 14 races at seven meetings and all competing cars will carry the Paragon logo front and rear. One race will be held at Zandvoort in the Netherlands and the rest will support the British F3 and British GT series, including an event at the Rockingham Circuit near Paragon’s Corby and Islip sites in Northamptonshire.
Paragon’s Business Development Director, Neil Burrows said: “Ours is a very well known company within the industry and this is a way of becoming better-known in more general terms. We manage our corporate image carefully and we are delighted to be associated with such a well-run and popular race series, particularly as we already have a strong working relationship with VW, which we look forward to continually building on in the future. ”
Welcoming Paragon to the championship, Melissa Wright of Volkswagen Racing UK said: “We are delighted that Paragon has chosen the Volkswagen Racing Cup in such a high-profile way, with all competing cars bearing the Paragon logo front and rear.”
In addition to title backer FUCHS Lubricants and now Paragon, the Volkswagen Racing Cup is supported by Hankook Tyres, Milltek Sport, Superchips, Ceva Logistics and ECM Vehicle Delivery. Volkswagen Racing Cup website http://www.vw-cup.co.uk Hi-res image downloads http://flickr.com/photos/imagevaults/
04/04/2011 Paragon retains Ford Direct Paragon Group has announced it has recently secured a major contract with Ford that will see it continue to manage Ford's used car programme - Ford Direct. Run exclusively from the Paragon's Automotive site in Immingham, the contract involves the refurbishment and movement of the brands ex-management and ex-rental vehicles to approved Ford dealers across the country. Paragon and Ford have been working together since 2005 and the retention of the contract illustrates the strong working relationship established between the two companies. Paragon’s high standards of defleeting, specialist bodyshop repair and maintenance along with its ongoing commitment to customer service enabled it to be in the ideal position to retain the Ford Direct contract.
Steve Stanger, Group Operations Director comments: “We are extremely pleased to announce the retention of the Ford Direct contract which is a testament to the hard work and commitment to all those that work at our Immingham site. Dealing exclusively with Ford Direct, the contract secures our operations at Immingham which is excellent news.”
He continues: “Operating the Ford Direct operations from one site enables us to ensure we turn vehicles around quickly and to the highest standard whilst keeping vehicle movements to a minimum. We have a strong track record of working with Ford and we look forward to building on this in the future.”
Paragon refurbishes and prepares all vehicles to stringent Ford safety and quality standards – which are then rigorously inspected and approved by the RAC and distributed to Ford’s nationwide network of dealers ready for sale.
Paragon is the UK’s leading fleet vehicle processing and captive fleet management company, providing an integral part of sales support to many vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators.
25/03/2011 Paragon Group Sponsors Olympic Hopeful Paragon Group has entered the world of sports sponsorship by teaming up with Olympic hopeful, John Paul. John is one of the UKs hottest cycling prospects in track sprint having been selected for the Olympic Development Programme. With several achievements already under his belt, including a fourth place sprint position at the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi and being named Oxfordshire Junior Sportsperson, the future velodrome star has real potential of being selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
In recognition of John’s talent, Paragon Group has given the 17 year old athlete’s training fund a £4,000 boost. The sponsorship will last for a year, and Paragon’s contribution will help cover training, travel and equipment costs.
Commenting on the new partnership, Neil Burrows, Group Business Development Director, Paragon said: “We are proud to be sponsoring John Paul in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. We believe he has medal winning potential and could become one of Britain’s next sporting success stories, so want to support John in realising his Olympic dream at London 2012.”
Originally from Caithness, Scotland, John Paul now lives with his family in Wantage, Oxfordshire. John trained regularly at Palmer Park in Reading, where, at just 14, he was spotted by a talent coach. He was accepted on to the British Cycling Olympic Talent Team programme in 2007 before progressing to the Olympic Development Programme for track sprint in 2009 - a two year programme from which top athletes will be selected on to the GB Academy with the potential to be selected to compete for Great Britain in the 2012 Games and beyond.
John Paul commented: “Paragon’s sponsorship will make a big difference to my training and help cover the costs of my travel and accommodation when I attend events around the UK. People recognising my potential and having enough faith in me to give me such support helps me believe in myself and concentrate on my dream of becoming an Olympic champion. That's my main goal.”
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