Do you need a new van?

London’s new Low Emission Zone requires larger vans, minibuses and other specialist diesel vehicles to meet “Euro 3″ emission standards if they are able to drive freely in the new zone, which comes into effect on the 3rd January 2012. Research conducted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has found that out of the 3.57 million vans on UK roads at the end of 2012, over 31% were not eligible.

The new legislation will result in many van operators having to pay a daily charge to enter the zone. Usually, “Euro 3″ vehicles are those that have been registered after the 1st January 2002, so if you run a commercial vehicle that is older than 10 years from January next year, you may well be affected.

Paul Everitt, Chief Executive of the SMMT, said,”It’s not only emissions that improve when owners and operators upgrade, fuel efficiency also gets better, returning real-world benefits on top of the LEZ savings. SMMT anticipates a slight rise in commercial vehicle registrations in this last quarter of 2011 as owners and operators buy-into more efficient, compliant vehicles. The CV market has been strong all year and is up 20% for the year-to-date. It’s clear that those businesses and individuals running vans and trucks in the capital have already begun to renew their vehicles and we’ll be watching with interest how the market performs over the next few months.” 

If you are thinking about changing your commercial vehicle then we have all models available now on contract hire.

Further information about the Low Emission Zone can be found at the TfL website.

Toyota iQ

Toyota has been awarded the title of “Greenest Car Manufacturer” by cleangreencars.co.uk and is the first manufacturer in the UK to dip below 130g/km level for mean carbon emissions across their range.

cleangreancars.co.uk has calculated that the average emissions are 129.15g/km. The Prius leads the way with CO2 emissions from 89g/km, however iQ, Aygo, Yaris, Urban Cruiser and Auris all offer low CO2 car emissions as well.

Lexus RX 450h

The luxury Lexus RX 450h SUV achieved an average 54.75mpg on the FleetWorld/ALD MPG Marathon. That is pretty good going for a vehicle that weighs over two tonnes and is powered by a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine, as well as the Lexus Hybrid Drive powertrain.

The results were achieved by Lexus’s driving team of David Crouch and Richard Lacey and this excellent fuel performance coupled with a low CO2 emissions rating of only 148g/km make the Lexus an appealing car leasing package.

Fiat 500

Fiat has demonstrated its commitment to low CO2 emission cars by reducing its average CO2 emissions figure on cars sold in Europe, during the first half of 2009, to 129.1g/km.

The figure has been corroborated by leading automotive adviser, JATO and shows Fiat is the only mainstream car manufacturer to achieve the European average goal of sub 130g/km by 2015 -five years early.

Of the top brands Fiat is ahead of the following;

- Toyota 132.9g/km

- Peugeot 134.5g/km

- Citroen 138.1g/km

- Renault 138.9g/km

- Ford 140.4g/km

- Opel (GM) 149.5g/km

- Volkswagen 152.5g/km

- Audi 162.6g/km

- Mercedes 178.8g/km

Fiat has led the way on green technology with MultiAir technology on petrol engines, MultiJet diesel engines eco:Drive and Start&Stop which has helped them to the top spot in low CO2 cars.

smart BRABUS

smart is adding a new service which will provide all smart car drivers the opportunity to personalise their car with a splash of colour. The smart BRABUS tailor made concept was launched this week and will enable smart car drivers to choose from an array of colours from both inside and out of the car.

smart BRABUS

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars said “smart has always been regarded as an iconic and unique product and the launch of smart BRABUS tailor made will enhance that reputation”.

smart cars will also provide a company driver with a low CO2 vehicle with excellent fuel economy thereby saving you money in the long term.

VW Passat BlueMotion

A new European study by the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) has found that car makers are going green, but British motorists are behind the rest of Europe. Portugese drivers are the greenest drivers when it comes to buying with an average CO2 emissions rate of 138g/km (e.g VW Polo). The least greenest drivers comes from Latvia with a figure of 177g/km with Britain at 16th place at 158g/km.

Andrew Davis, Director at ETA said,”Car makers can build green cars, but they need us to buy them. The report found that strict new emissions laws are having a strong effect on the availability of cleaner cars but wealth, motoring taxes, fuel prices and consumer attitudes, which vary wildly from country to country across Europe, have much more of an effect on how clean a car is chosen”.

He went onto say,”There was a fuss in Britain when road tax increased for the most polluting cars but we are lax by European standards -we need a more sophisticated carrot and stick approach to encouraging people to drive lighter cars if we want to do better in next year’s league table”.The full report can be downloaded at www.transportenvironment.org

League table results:

Ranking 2008. Country/Average CO₂ 2008(g/km)/AverageCO₂ 2007/Rank 2007

1.    Portugal / 138 / 144 / 1
2.    France / 140 / 149 / 4
3.    Italy / 145 / 147 / 2
4.    Denmark / 146 / 160 / 12
5.    Malta / 147 / 148 / 3
6.    Belgium / 148 / 153 / 5
7.    Spain / 148 / 153 / 6
8.    Poland / 153 / 154 / 7
9.    Hungary / 153 / 155 / 10
10.   Czech Republic / 154 / 154 / 8
11.   Slovenia / 156 / 156 / 11
12.   Romania / 156 / 155 / 9
13.   Ireland / 157 / 162 / 13
14.   Netherlands / 158 / 165 / 15
15.   Austria / 158 / 163 / 16
16.   Great Britain / 158 / 165 / 16
17.   Luxembourg / 160 / 166 / 18
18.   Greece / 161 / 165 / 17
19.   Finland / 163 / 165 / 22
20.   Germany / 165 / 169 / 19
21.   Cyprus / 166 / 170 / 20
22.   Lithuania / 170 / 177 / 21
23.   Sweden / 174 / 181 / 23
24.   Estonia / 177 / 182 / 24
25.   Latvia / 181 / 183

Car makers – Ranking by average CO₂ in 2008

Ranking in 2008. Manufacturer/ranking 2007/ Average CO₂ in 2008(g/km)

1.    Fiat/ 2 / 138
2.    Peugeot-Citroen / 1 / 139
3.    Renault / 3 / 143
4.    Toyota / 4 / 147
5.    Hyundai / 7 / 149
6.    Ford / 8 / 152
7.    GM / 5 / 153
8.    Honda / 6 / 154
9.    BMW / 12 / 154
10.   Suzuki / 9 / 156
11.   Mazda / 13 / 158
12.   VW / 10 / 159
13.   Nissan / 11 / 161
14.   Daimler / 14 / 175

SEAT Ecomotive

SEAT will be launching next week, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, low CO2 versions of the Altea, Altea XL and Leon cars. All three new models feature significant improvements to offer better fuel consumption and to reduce harmful emissions.

The three newcomers feature the latest 105PS 1.6-litre TDI CR engine which incorporates a DPF particulate filter as well as cutting edge common rail diesel technology as standard.

Both versions of the Altea offer 119g/km Co2 emissions while the Leon comes in at 99g/km – a significant improvement on the old model.

Other features in the cars include Auto Start/Stop technology, energy recuperation, modifications to the five-speed gearbox, featuring a handy gear indicator device, which recommends the best gear to be driving in. The trio of SEAT Ecomotive models will be available in early 2010 however car leasing prices on other SEAT models are available now.

3008 hybrid

As well as launching the RCZ 2+2 Coupe at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Peugeot is also demonstrating its green credentials by unveiling two new low CO2 emission concept cars as well.

The new 3008 HYbrid4 (CO2 of 99g/km) and RCZ HYbrid4 (CO2 of 95g/km) will both be shown on the Peugeot stand. The innovative hybrid diesel technology (HYbrid4) comes into its own in the European market where the popularity of diesel engines is the largest.

RCZ HYbrid4

Peugeot is capitalising firstly in its advanced knowledge of HDi diesel engines, electric vehicles and the perfection of existing technology i.e. Stop & Start systems and the 6-speed electronically controlled manual gearbox.

It also relies heavily on a parallel arrangement where the HDi diesel engine and the electric motor alternate, according to how the car is driven, to achieve excellent low CO2 emissions and much improved fuel consumption figures.

 The HYbrid4 solution also offers a four wheel drive option as well, without the drawback of a mechanical connection. Peugeot is committed to introducing this new green technology across their whole range of vehicles to offer low CO2 car solutions to all.