As CO2 reporting for UK quoted companies comes in to law from this year, their fleets of vehicles will be under even more scrutiny than ever before. Tax bands continue to change to encourage ever cleaner cars with rewards of lower road tax. Economical cars, especially those with lower emissions so lower road tax, are maintaining their value better than other cars. This trend is influencing future valuations of funders, adding weight to the argument for leasing companies revisiting their figures for electric and hybrid cars
Vauxhall has given their Astra range the once over and it is soon to benefit from the new 1.6 litre diesel engine, which at less than 90 g/km is competitive with the cleanest of diesels. The face-lifted Astra will be quieter, quicker and will sit in a lower tax bracket. Vauxhall will also be using the engine in the face lifted Meriva people carrier. CO2 figures of less than 115g/km have been achieved in initial tests, but with final tweaks this may be improved. Fuel consumption of better than 64 mpg is being quoted by Vauxhall, Additionally, Vauxhall have installed the engine in the new Corsavan Ecoflex. With a combined consumption figure of 85 mpg, it leads the way in economy terms for a small van but still has a load capacity of over half a tonne. A full test on the Corsavan will be my blog tomorrow
Carrying on from yesterday’s Mitsubishi theme, the manufacturer has this morning given a few details of the new hybrid Outlander 4×4. Mitsubishi were once one of the leaders in technology research and were first to run a ceramic engine and a compression ignition petrol engine. The latest Outlander is squarely aimed at the Lexus RX450. The new Outlander will have emissions of something lower than 50g/km. Mitsubishi have also revealed some details of an all-electric small car, that they are hoping to give a range of over 200 miles which they believe is the cut line for customer acceptance of electric cars.
Finally, the first BYD electric vans have arrived from China this week. The first batch will be out on test with parcel companies and the NHS. As yet, we have no indication of price.