FLEET SHARE TO TOTAL CAR SALES DOWN... even more than retail for the first time in years. Truck and van sales are off even more so. Hardest hit is Florida, where sales to rental fleets are off more than 50-percent compared to a year ago. Delayed purchases, high interest rates and tight corporate cash flow problems are all factors in the current sales slump. First signs of bottoming out are now appearing, but most feel that it will be another 12 months before things get back to "normal." Meanwhile, although fleet orders of GM's X-body compacts are closed out for the '80 model run, the backlog of unfilled orders, both retail and fleet, has been dropping. According to Automotive News, Buick had a year-end backlog of 43,791 unfilled orders, down from 62,291 a month earlier.

CITY OF CLEVELAND TO OBTAIN FEDERAL GRANT TO BUY ELECTRICS FOR POLICE USE ... primarily in non-emergency situations. The proposed grant of $466,000 would fund 30 vehicles powered by 21 batteries each with a range of 50 miles and a top speed of 72 miles per hour. The program would be part of a five-year test by the U.S. Department of Energy to study the feasibility of electrics in police applications. The units will cost about $13,000 each, and operating costs are projected at 2.5 cents per mile.

AUTOMOTIVE RENTALS, INC. ACQUIRES INTERLEASE CORPORATION ... an auto leasing concern with offices in Stamford, Connecticut and Taylor, Michigan. Interlease was formerly a subsidiary of the international advertising agency, J.Walter Thompson Company of New York. According to ARI President Ernest Samuelsen, the acquisition is of particular interest to the Maple Shade, New Jersey-based company as it will expand the range of services available to its customers. Interlease, which has 7,000 units and was formed in 1960, has such companies as the Chessie System, St. Regis Paper Company, Union Carbide and Union Camp among its clients. In addition, the Michigan operation called Interlease-Midwest Division is a fabricating and installation plant for truck bodies, hoists, cranes, lifts and specialty equipment for railroads and utilities.

FORD CLOSES ITS LOS ANGELES AREA MANUFACTURING PLANT ... and idles about 1,600 workers. The plant, located in Pico Rivera, produced full-size models. The company attributed the lack of demand for the larger models, as well as a need to consolidate operations, as the reason for the plant closure. Although there are no immediate plans for the facility, the possibility exists that the plant may be sold to another manufacturer. Volkswagen of America's President James McLernon told Ward's Auto World that his company is very interested in establishing a manufacturing plant west of the Mississippi in an article published before the announcement that the Ford plant was to be shut down permanently. The Pico Rivera plant was Ford's only assembly point in California.

SHORT TAKES ... EmKay, Inc., a Chicago-based fleet leasing, management and aircraft leasing concern has opened a new division, EmKay Rent-A-Car. Two locations have been opened, one at their headquarters in downtown Chicago and the other at the Oak Park (Chicago suburb) facility ... Gelco announced that it has completed the purchase of CTI International, Inc., a marine and air cargo leasing firm, from Reliance Group, Inc. for $250-million. CTI, headquartered in White Plains, NY is the world's largest container leasing company and operates through regional sales and service offices on six continents ... Legislation has been introduced in the California General Assembly that would change the state's emission regulations on automobiles to meet federal guidelines. If passed, it would eliminate the need for special pollution equipment on new cars over what is offered federally ... J.D. Power & Associates, a marketing information concern, released a study recently that said if the domestic car manufacturers cannot move fast enough to meet small car demand, import car penetration may reach 30-percent in the U.S. market.