Green guide: Green car choice list

Devising a green fleet strategy is more than just a simple exercise in choosing the lowest emission vehicles.
Other factors need to be taken into account – the most important being is the car fit for purpose?

While city cars offer ultra-low emissions, they may not be suitable for a sales representative covering 20,000 miles a year. Some staff will need carrying capacity for example, which a city car cannot offer.

Luckily for fleet managers, the rate of development is so fast that there is a wide choice of models which fall into both the sub-120g/km CO2 band (giving drivers access to the lowest possible benefit-in-kind tax bills), and also the sub-160g/km band which is beneficial to companies who keep the cars on their books as they can write down more of the vehicle’s depreciation against tax.

Figures from the Department for Transport’s transport statistics bulletin show that low CO2 vehicles are booming in popularity. In 2007, sub-120g/km vehicles accounted for 6% of the UK new car market, but last year that figure almost doubled to 11%.

Over the same period, vehicles emitting between 121 and 150g/km saw their market share rise from 33% to 38%. On the flip side, vehicles emitting between 186 and 225g/km fell from 14% to 11% , and 225g/km-plus models fell from 6% to 4%.

To help fleet managers devise a green vehicle policy, Fleet News has compiled a list of the cars within the key CO2 benchmarks. In each case, companies can reduce fuel bills and help the environment while offering a choice that will keep drivers happy.

Clearly, when it comes to choosing models, firms need to carry out a full wholelife cost analysis, taking into account mileage profiles, funding costs, tax charges for the company and the driver, writing down allowances and depreciation.