For the press the CV Show week at Birmingham kicks off with a day of press conferences as the assembled visitors do their best to secure a few column inches for their wares. Both Commercial Motor and Motor Transport are well represented at this affair with us all scribbling like crazy to make sure we get every last quote and news item.

I've just come out of the Renault Trucks press conference where the French truck builder revealed lead times for its Kerax multi-wheeler construction range stretch to the early part of 2008, some wait if you're in the market for a new eight-wheeler! For new tractors you can expect to wait until November, while for the lightweight product you'll probably get your motor in September.

Also at Renault Trucks, Bruce Allison the sales and marketing director has announced his retirement, while at the show the company will unveil its new Maxity 3.5-tonner (a re-badged Niassan Cabstar) and the Euro-4 version of the Renault Mascott.

So far today I've covered the unveiling of the new RHA logo - judge for yourself.

It looks fresh and modern, but I hope they haven't paid too much for the creative execution. New look or not, the message is still the same and it's good to see old friend Jack Semple putting himself about as the new director of policy at the RHA. Jack was a cracking journalist on Motor Transport and we're all looking forward to Jack cracking heads in government in his new role.

The press conference was notable for the RHA's launch of its answer to the ills of road congestion. On the face of it this appears to be a well considered piece of research, although the alternatives to the government's road pricing scheme appear limited to building more toll roads and allowing the cities to expand into green belt areas thus letting people live nearer their place of work. The Greens will no doubt have a field day.

From the RHA presentation I took a quick spin out into the halls of the show to get a swift look at the new Isuzu and Hino products launched at the show. The Isuzu looks particularly attractive. Further details in a later blog, when I've got some snaps to show you.