New Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid

Toyota’s new Prius Plug-in Hybrid is set to cost less than £31,000 when launched in the first half of 2012 and this figure does not take into account the access to Government funding, through the Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicle Grant, where up to an additional £5,000 grant can be applied for.

The pricing for the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid is comparable to most of the EVs (Electric Vehicles) on the market, however the Prius Plug-in Hybrid can offer a more flexible performance due to its combination of an electric motor, a lithium-ion battery and a petrol engine.

The car drives 14 miles in pure EV mode after which it seamlessly switches to power from its full hybrid system including the 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engine. The benefit of this is that you shouldn’t have to worry about “range anxiety” which many drivers do worry about with a pure electric car.

Toyota is predicting that the Prius Plug-in Hybrid should achieve 134.5mpg combined fuel economy and CO2 emissions are at 49g/km. This combination should make the Prius an attractive option for fleet operators as it will qualify for a Benefit-in-Kind company car tax rating of just 5%.

There are around 200 prototype Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) being used in Europe currently, with around 20 in London, in real-world driving situations. The London demonstration is in partnership with EDF Energy, where EDF is also monitoring battery recharging patterns and how drivers can find the best time for recharging, to get value for money and keep CO2 emissions low.

Ford price rise

Ford has announced it is increasing its prices on all orders received after the 30th November 2009. The price rise which is on average about 2.7 per cent is due to the weakness of the £.

Since 2007 the £ has devalued by around 30 per cent and although Ford has taken actions to reduce their costs this price increase was inevitable according to Nigel Sharp, Ford of Great Britain managing director.

He said, “To combat the continuning weakness of the £ against the Euro, Ford has reduced costs across its entire UK business, including personnel reductions in its central operation and across its dealer network. However price increases are still required to maintain a viable business and to recover relative costs increases caused by the weakness of the £ over an extended period”. 

This will add about £250-£500 on the most popular Ford models like Ka, Fiesta,Focus,C-MAX,Kuga and Mondeo.

Comparethemarket.com is now offering business and personal contract price hire comparison, to its millions of visitors. They have partnered with Comparecontracthire.com, the UK’s first car and van contract hire leasing price comparison site.

Comparethemarket.com visitors will now be able to compare prices directly from Arval, Days Contract Hire, Grosvenor Contracts, Hitachi Capital, Hyundai Contract Hire, Masterlease, jamjarcars, TCH Leasing, Chevrolet Lease, Saab Contract Hire, Vauxhall Leasing and FGA Contracts UK ( Fiat).

Robert Wastell, managing director of Comparecontracthire.com said ” I am delighted that Comparethemarket.com has entered into this new arrangement as it will help more customers, interested in vehicle finance, understand the benefits of contract hire versus ownership”

Just checking the £ budget shopper and the least expensive Audi available off the site at the moment is from TCH Leasing.

You can contract hire an Audi A3 1.6 SE Sportback 5 Door for only £203.00 per month (excluding VAT). This is based on three years at 10,000 miles per annum on non maintenance business contract hire. The payment terms are three initial rentals followed by 35 subsequent rentals.