The Government (quite rightly) often gets a bad press, particularly in the motor industry. Well, for once, it’s done something right.

The announcement this week by new transport minister Lord Adonis that van makers would now have to publish CO2 emissions and fuel consumption figures for new models is long overdue.

The BVRLA has been publishing unofficial figures since December, obtaining figures from Germany. 

But prevarication by van makers meant official data – crucial for fleet decisions – has not been available in most cases, much to fleet managers’ annoyance. 

Now fleets will be able to make direct comparisons on
emissions, fuel consumption and, ultimately, wholelife costs, before making their next purchase decision.

It will be interesting to see the impact this has on the
composition of the van fleet sector. In total, 25 van models fall below 130g/km, 107 are below
160g/km and 153 sit below 190g/km.

Initial observations are that the sector’s big two – Ford and Vauxhall – hold up pretty well. Both offer vans below
120g/km (Fiesta and Corsa), while Transit and Vivaro are only just over 200g/km. 

Lord Adonis’s appointment was greeted with what can most kindly be described as a lukewarm reaction. He’s the fifth transport minister in just three years and companies are getting fed up with the lack of consistency over policy.

This was clearly shown by the reaction to the recent Fleet News confidence survey where two-thirds of fleet decision-makers thought the Government was doing a bad job at managing transport.

The Government, perhaps mindful of the negative publicity over the cabinet reshuffle, expenses debacle and the local/European elections results, has at least ensured Lord Adonis gets a positive start with this announcement.

He would endear himself to fleets even more if he started pushing van makers to adopt some of their existing car technology, such as stop-start and tyre pressure monitoring, to their vans.

It would generate fuel savings, improve van safety and reduce the impact on the environment – three things which are high on the agenda of many fleets.