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Whilst the Government seems to be moving green issues down the agenda, as people would apparently prefer to keep warm than pay a green levy to save the planet, the car manufacturers are steaming on with their objective of making cars more fuel efficient and kick out fewer CO2 gases.

It was only a couple of years ago when manufacturers were struggling to get below the 120g/km CO2 emissions, even in their smallest of town cars but that is all set to change. The new Vauxhall line up will include its latest 1.6litre diesel eco engines that will drop the CO2 emissions down to 85g/km.

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The engine is already fitted into the Zafira Tourer and is set to be joined by the Astra, Meriva and Mokka which will help Vauxhall keep to the European emissions targets. Alongside the new eco friendly Vauxhall engine is the Ford Focus Econetic (87g/km) and the Peugeot 308 (85g/km).

Of course it isn’t the social conscience of ex hippy retail buyers that are snapping up these low emission cars, it would seem that large companies with high emissions have to pay for each tonne of CO2 they release into the atmosphere and that includes the emissions from the tailpipe of their vehicle fleet.

Other small businesses simply want to keep emissions down although if you think you may avoid congestion charges in London, think again as you need to drop down to 75g/km before you are exempt.

Related articles

• Report: EU compromises on loosening CO2 emission limits (green.autoblog.com)

You know I like to search out great deals for my customers and boy have I found a real Bobby Dazzler for you!! How would you like a car which comes with a free servicing package? Not for just 3 years or even 5 years but 7 years. That’s right, a whole 7 years. Before you look for the Vauxhall style lifetime warranty catch, ie. restricted to 100,000 miles Read more �

The warranty arguments are starting to build – exactly as I predicted. Warranty Direct, one of the largest providers of aftermarket warranty insurance, first of all complained that Kia and Hyundai’s new extended warranty adverts did not make it clear that the warranty had a 100,000 mile ceiling, the same as the widely promoted Vauxhall ‘Lifetime’ warranty. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed Read more �

We’re encouraged to keep cars for longer as the manufacturers review their warranty periods. Toyota have announced a warranty extension to 5 years/100,000 miles joining Hyundai on 5 years also and Kia now on 7 years. These being the only manufacturers to announce the extended warranties across their full range of cars. Fiat now offers 5 years but only on the Bravo. The move, according to Toyota, has Read more �

Warnings have been issued about dealers and manufacturers who refuse to carry out warranty work because the vehicle hasn’t been serviced by a main dealer. This is illegal and flies in the face of the revised EU Block Exemption rules that came into force in 2002. In a case taken up by What Car a lady, Nocola West, had a Vauxhall Astra that developed a radiator fault that ended up putting water in the gearbox. The dealer Read more �

I’m not sure how useful this information is or what real conclusions can be drawn but I found it interesting so am passing it on. Under the Freedom of  Information Act the BBC obtained data regarding MOT failures and Business Car  analysed the figures to identify which cars had the highest pass rates and which cars had the highest fail rate. The statistics are based on 2004 registered cars that were MOT tested for the Read more �

More and more manufacturers are embracing the new stop-start technology in an effort to reduce car emissions to meet the targets set by the EU if they are to avoid some hefty fines. “But how does stop-start work Graham?” I hear you all shouting at your computer screen. In fact I can’t hear you shouting, I’m imagining it. In fact you may not even give a monkey’s banana but you’re going to be told anyway! Let’s take Read more �

I have to say that I have a fantastic relationship with my customers, many of whom rely upon my judgement, but one of the dangers I’ve had to face over the years, is when I attempt to get a customer into a great value car but the customer, who bases his decision on cost rather than the whole package, hasn’t had a test drive in the car, only to find that the driving position is Read more �

Apparently you could get free new cars from Vauxhall until recently provided you were a driving school and you ran a fleet of 3,500 vehicles. This astonishing fact has only just come to light as a result of Vauxhall refusing to provide free of charge cars any longer to BSM and telling them that they will now have to pay. Cars were provided on a 6 month turnaround so Vauxhall were providing 7,000 cars a year for free. BSM is owned by Aviva, formally Norwich Union, who now face costs of millions of pounds – time to sell shares? By Graham Hill

Companies have already started to cut back on their transport costs, as of course consumers have also, in preparation for the difficult times ahead. Sadly the problem here is not a need to downsize or purchase cheaper cars etc. it is really a need to understand the finance tools that are available. Various types of leasing could save businesses a fortune. Taking on a tax efficient purchase scheme when the company is making no profits against which they can write off depreciation and interest is pure lunacy. Losing the Read more �