FEWER than half of the UK's company car drivers will change their car choice, and virtually none will drive fewer miles under the Government's proposed new benefit-in-kind tax system. A Fleet News/Kwik-Fit Fleet post-Budget survey has found that Treasury plans to introduce a system in April 2002 based on a car's list price and carbon dioxide emissions will have a limited environmental impact.

Of the 160 company car drivers questioned, 48.4% said the proposed system would have no influence on their car choice, 40.6% said it would lead them to choose a more emissions-friendly car, and 11% would select a cheaper car. Simon Roper, sales and marketing director of Kwik-Fit Fleet, said: 'The research leads to a real concern that the company car, and as a result company car drivers, could be viewed as sitting ducks by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. There seems to be little forward planning either to minimise drivers' exposure to taxation or to bring benefits to the environment.'

The survey showed 84.4% of drivers and 85.6% of the 97 fleet managers questioned believe annual mileages will not fall, despite the abolition of business mileage tax breaks. Nor have fleet managers changed their attitude to diesel, despite the fuel's clear advantages under any tax system based on carbon dioxide emissions - 34 of the UK's 50 cleanest cars based on CO2 emissions are diesels according to the Government's own figures. Company car drivers are, however, unaware of this, with 70.6% saying they had no easy access to a car's CO2 emissions, although 70% of fleet managers said they would provide CO2 information in future.

Managers are split on the best way of introducing the new system, with 46% saying the current company car tax regime should continue for cars already on the road, and 46% disagreeing. Views on alternative fuels were clearer - only 13.4% of managers said the Budget had encouraged them to go for gas, despite 37% of drivers saying they would drive a gas-powered company car. Fleet drivers certainly appear much more likely to opt for gas rather than a private car, with 57% saying the Budget would not make them consider a cash alternative to their company car, and 46% saying they were now less likely to opt for a personal motoring scheme.