The UK’s largest newspaper publishing group, Trinity Mirror plc, has awarded a new vehicle supply contract to Vauxhall Motors for its fleet of over 2,100 essential user cars in a deal worth £27m at showroom prices.

Trinity Mirror awarded the contract to Vauxhall after going out to tender at the end of a four-year contract period. The previous supplier was Ford.

Of key importance to the deal is the new Astra, which Vauxhall launched at the beginning of May and which will figure predominantly in the new deal.

Trinity Mirror will order at least 1,700 Astras, and has opted for the Astra SXi 1.7 CDTi as the mainstay of its fleet after switching to a new all-diesel policy on both environmental and taxation grounds.

Trinity Mirror also expects to order around 400-500 new Vectra 1.9 litre CDTi, although fleet manager David Redpath expects some drivers may downsize to the new Astra. "We have found in the past that a number of our drivers on high job grades chose to downsize to a smaller car and so benefit from tax savings," says Redpath.