Without a doubt the UK automotive industry is SUV-mad. In particular anything small-medium and petrol just seems to sell within the leasing industry. It is no surprise that cars like the Seat Arona, VW T-Roc and even the Mercedes GLA (in the prestige range) have been such successful lease deals over the last 3 months.
What was the catalyst for change? Why are SUVs now overtaking hatchback and estates in the UK?
While there is no “one answer” to this conundrum, some of the growth in this segment has come account naturally because the manufacturers are investing so much of their time and money into this type of car.
This means a customer is getting the benefit of aesthetically pleasing cars with great specification and design for value.
Compared next to a hatchback equivalent, they just have the edge. The better the cars become, the more customers want them and so forth…
there really doesn’t seem an end to this and we will probably see even more crossovers on the UK roads as time moves on.
A thank-you of course to Enterprise, based next door to us in Leigh (Greater Manchester), for allowing us to photograph yet another addition to their growing rental fleet.
With an array of cars, vans and specialist vehicles, the team here at Leigh are ideally placed to service the Leigh, Atherton, Worsley and Culcheth areas.
As these towns have grown in conjunction with Manchester city centre, we have noticed a considerable increase in the demands for rental-style products as the team next door have only continued to grow. Unlike CarLease UK who offer long-term contract hire solutions, Enterprise facilitate daily and weekly rental products for example for businesses with a short-term need for specific vehicle, cars/vans for customers with a temporary change in circumstances or vans for when people move out of their house. Enterprise can literally cover it all.
It also provides our local Greater Manchester customers with the comfort that they have access to a short-term solution if their car from is delayed or if they need a vehicle for a specific purpose.
In terms of the car shown here, the Toyota C-HR HATCHBACK 1.2T Icon 5dr, this is based on the following configuration:
· Tyrol silver metallic paint
· Cloth – Black
· 17″ 5 spoke alloy wheels
As standard the car includes heated rear screen, rain sensitive windscreen wipers, ESP, hill start assist, vehicle stability control, Bluetooth, adaptive cruise control, collision prevention assist, lane departure warning system, reversing camera, traffic sign recognition, 4.2” colour display, 8” touch screen, auto dimming rear view mirror, body coloured electric and heated door mirrors, DAB, steering wheel mounted controls, body coloured externals, auto high beam, follow me home headlights, LED daytime running lights, air conditioning, nappa leather steering wheel, illuminated entry system, WIL, 17” alloys, alarm and immobiliser. In terms of additional specification, consider – the parking pack or one of the “accent” packs to improve the design.
On the technical-side, company car and business users can note the P11d at £22,165.00 and CO2 at 135g/km. The 1197CC 6 speed manual petrol engine delivers 47.9 combined MPG (EC), 41.5 (WLTP),115ps and 0-62 times of 10.9 seconds.
So would you select the petrol or hybrid CH-R as your net car leasing option? Or would you go for one of the other competitors?
So why is the CH-R suddenly so popular from Toyota? When the new style of vehicles was launched from Toyota, much of the public considered these a tad futuristic and maybe a little brave on the design front. However, the move into smaller SUV/crossover vehicles seems to have pushed this car more into the mix as it offers something a little alternative on the style front.
More importantly, where the CH-R really comes into its own is the fact that it is available in a “Hybrid” format
So by a Hybrid, you mean one of those cars you plug into your wall or those charge points? Well not exactly. A hybrid (which sometimes can be referred to as a “mild hybrid”) is not the same as a Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PHEV). While we have a great guide on all things hybrid we can probably detail some of the key aspects here.
A hybrid vehicle used both a conventional combustion engine (mainly petrol but diesel is becoming more available) and an electric motor. While the electric element works in conjunction with the engine, it can operate on the electric component independently for a very short period of time – generally no more than two miles.
The hybrid is a good (and safe) option for customers as it gently leading them into the alternative fuel world.
There are no cables to plug-in to charge the battery (this will self-charge via propulsion and regenerative braking), there is no range anxiety as the car will run on the combustion element if the electric motor is empty, it works well in cities/urban areas where there is start/stop driving and it offers improved CO2 for company car tax drivers. For example, the CH-R is available in a 1.8 Hybrid (petrol/auto), offers 74.3mpg, 86g/km of CO2 and for the Icon range, this would offer a P11d at £25,644.22. For a tax payer in 2019/20 this would be a 22% Benefit in Kind (BiK) rate.
For many drivers covering between 5,000 to 15,000 miles per annum, especially doing start/stop journeys, the hybrid offers a great solution.
So are customers not choosing electric vehicles as there is nowhere to charge them? This is a little bit of a misnomer, as there are a few more charging points than the general public would believe. There an estimated 67,000 petrol pumps across 8500 locations (from 2016 statistics). However, quite surprisingly, there are now an estimated 17,000 charging points across nearly 6,000 locations in the UK.
With a £500 Government grant towards home-charging schemes and some local authorities and transport agencies offering businesses grants for charge point solutions, setting-up the infrastructure is more than cost-effective so it is becoming more popular.
Add to that some recent news from Gridserve who have announced their new “Electric Forecourts”.
This is a £1 billion programme which will construct circa 100 new sites which will be specifically designed for electric vehicle drivers. With dedicated areas for private users, taxis, delivery drivers and HGVs, the idea is to integrate fast-charging solutions together with convenience stores/coffee shops and Wi-Fi hubs. To further bolster the environment, these hubs will utilise solar energy and battery storage to help provide a cleaner and more sustainable solution. With some of the rapid charging points offering up to 500kW, there is speculation we will see 10 minute charge times.
If this does happen, some of the concerns for drivers with regard to accessing charge points and the charge times will soon dissipate.
Find the best lease deals on the Toyota CHR @CarLease UK – or – check out more SUV posts below…
