By Andy Williams, Ryan Tout and Josephine Stacey
As Christmas fast approaches, the team at Douglas Stafford have been looking back on a busy year. Here are just some of the highlights from our clients… and here’s to an even bigger 2016!
Toyota (GB) Ltd
This year Toyota have celebrated 50 years in the UK.
In 1965, they marked their arrival in the UK with a modest four-car stand at that year’s Motor Show. By 1980 Toyota (GB) Ltd had sold 200,000 cars. In the intervening years, they’ve sold a further 2.8 million vehicles and are firmly established as a leading manufacturer. Toyota’s biggest success was the Corolla – made between 1966 and 2008 – selling well over half a million units.
Toyota is Douglas Stafford’s official partner for Red Nose Day and this year they raised a fantastic £700,000 for the charity. Meanwhile, on the national sport front, they helped bring the Ashes back to England this summer as an official partner of the England & Wales Cricket Board.
Jaguar
2015 saw Jaguar pull off a fantastic coup. This most British sports car manufacturer found their C-X75 chosen to be the ‘villain’ vehicle in the new James Bond film Spectre. It stars in a wild car chase through the streets of Rome – a chase so spectacular it makes the Fast and Furious franchise car chases look like Wacky Races. Even Dick Dastardly and Muttley would have taken a few chequered flags if they’d been driving this bad boy!
Vodafone
2015 saw Vodafone launch their Home Broadband Service. Vodafone Connect comes with a router and an app that is used to control the service, and comes with a feature that will supercharge the internet connection to one device for up to two hours. With most households connecting multiple devices at the same time, the feature is designed to improve streaming reliability and downloading video over heavily used Wi-Fi.
Parents will be happy to learn that they can shut down the Wi-Fi at certain times for enforced screen breaks. No more spending hours glued to screens over Christmas day!
Thomas Cook
Six year-old Ava has been collecting blankets and duvets after watching a programme that features homeless people.
Moved by their plight, Ava asked her mum if they could collect something to give people a big hug this winter. She has also urged classmates, teachers and her local community to help donate too. Ava’s empathy and her desire to help those who have suffered misfortune have deservedly attracted national recognition.
Michael Underwood of ITV’s show ‘This Morning’ has helped kick-start the campaign and as a reward for her admirable efforts Thomas Cook and ITV teamed up to give the family a little treat of their own by packing them off on a holiday!
Renault
The first Formula E championship came to an end in the streets of London where the e.dams Renault team won the Constructor’s Championship. They amassed 232 points, a massive 61 point advantage over Dragon Racing in second place.
Renault’s two drivers rarely failed to finish amongst the points in the drivers’ championship: Nicolas Prost finished 6th and Sebastian Buemi finished an agonising 2nd, just one point shy of Nelson Pique Jr in 1st.
Access Self Storage
Access Self Storage has launched their 5th annual Christmas Charity Appeal, hoping it will be the most successful yet. Collecting everything from blankets to toys, they appeal largely to their customers but also encourage local businesses to donate.
Details of the appeal and the charities they support can be found on the link below.
https://www.accessstorage.com/news/access-in-the-community/2015-xmas-appeal
Ford
A remarkable innovation has been developed by the boffins at the Meyer-Hentschel Institute in Germany. Working in tandem with Ford Motor Company, they have created a suit that simulates the effects of recreational drugs. The suit consists of pads at different points of the body which use a kinetic device to mimic the way a given drug will affect that part of the body.
The suit doesn’t provide the complete drug experience, only the side-effects which hamper a driver’s ability to drive, so it is unlikely to become a fixture on the black market. However, it will certainly be a useful component in educating young drivers on the dangers of driving while intoxicated.
Click on the link below for a full run-down. No pun intended.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-drugdriving-suit-idUKKBN0TE23I20151125
Kawasaki
This year saw the launch of the H2 and H2R. These Kawasaki superbikes are apparently the most powerful to be made available to the public- ever!
You know what to do.
Henri Lloyd
This year saw the launch of the second wave of Henry Lloyd’s Land Rover BAR range of merchandising. It was made available in time for the America’s Cup and extended the range of polo shirts and caps in the first wave to include Akenham jackets and fleeces. Their jolly splendid apparel can be appraised and ordered from the link below.
https://www.henrilloyd.com/journal/second-wave-land-rover-bar-merchandise-launched/
Land Rover
Earlier this year Land Rover celebrated as the two millionth Series Land Rover and Defender vehicle rolled off the production line in Solihull. Special guests, including Global Land Rover Ambassador and adventurer Bear Grylls, helped build the unique vehicle. It should be excellent: Bear can knock up a perfectly serviceable human dwelling from several twigs, a handful of leaves and a dollop of mud, all in the time it takes to prepare and eat a Pot Noodle.
On 16th December 2015 the Defender 2,000,000 will be auctioned at Bonhams in London with all proceeds going to Land Rover’s partners, the Born Free Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies .
http://www.landrover.com/experiences/news/2-millionth-defender.html
