BSM ditches Fiat

Back in July 2009, Fiat announced that it had been chosen as sole supplier to the British School of Motoring. Under the deal, 14,000 of its 500 models were to be provided over a four year period, apparently the ideal car for the 130,000 learners that BSM teaches each year to get their hands on.

July 2009: Fiat signs BSM deal

But things have gone sour and, just fifteen months later, BSM has decided to exercise a break clause in its contract with Fiat. The reason? Its instructors were complaining that the 500 was too small for them.



Now, most people buying a car will give it a test drive, and maybe do some other suitability checks like seeing whether they’re actually going to fit inside without too much bother. Such practicalities tend to be even more important if you’re thinking of getting several thousand of the things.



Well it seems that BSM didn’t bother or, if they did, perhaps the decision ended up being overly influenced by the marketing types who thought that having one of the more fashionable cars of the moment would improve the driving school’s image.



Indeed, at the time Abu Shafi, Managing Director of BSM said, “We believe very strongly that the car we use for our fleet is the strongest depiction of our brand so it was of the utmost importance for us to find a car that shares both the heritage of BSM and the brand’s modern outlook and appeal.”



Whatever, it certainly seems that those who would be spending their working days cooped up inside the tiny Fiats - the 3,500 instructors that work for BSM - weren’t consulted.



Now it appears that all that brand stuff has gone out of the window, because the car replacing the Fiat 500 is the car that the Fiat 500 originally replaced on the BSM fleet, the Vauxhall Corsa.

October 2010: Fiat loses BSM deal

Perhaps what is surprising is that Fiat didn’t remain as the provider of cars to BSM. After all, its Punto Evo shares its platform with the Corsa, so surely that would have been an ideal substitute for the 500? However, maybe after losing the contract in 2009 after an eighteen year period, Vauxhall wasn’t prepared to be humiliated again and so made BSM an offer it couldn’t really refuse.



Recognising that for many instructors their BSM car is also a family vehicle, the Corsas will be 1.2 ecoFLEX and 1.4 litre 5-door versions. Moreover, they will be specially adapted for their learner role, with modifications including larger dashboard dials, upgraded power steering and rear head restraints (although surely that last one is just going to obscure rear visibility for the novice drivers?).



But yet again, does BSM really know what it’s buying? BSM CEO and Managing Partner Nikolai Kesting said of the Vauxhall deal, “The fact that British School of Motoring is again supporting British manufacturing is an added bonus.” Which is great, except that the Corsa is assembled in Spain and Germany, not the UK.



And what of the current 3,250-strong Fiat 500 fleet? They’ll start to be swapped for the Vauxhalls in March 2011, with the replacement exercise completed by the end of the year.



The question is, will such a large volume of cars appearing on the used market damage the previously strong residual values of the Fiat 500? For sure, anyone buying a used 500 next year will have to be extra vigilant, otherwise they could unwittingly get an ex-BSM car, unaware of its previous hard life.