Morris Vermaport has replaced its fleet of vans with a fleet of Toyota Prius hybrids.
Its home-based service engineers had previously used non-Toyota crew-vans.
But when one engineer started working on a contract in London last October, Morris Vermaport’s operations director Andy Waddell suggested that he use a Prius to save on congestion charging.
Official combined fuel-consumption figure for the Toyota Prius is 72mpg, with carbon emissions from 89g/km.
“Fuel is a massive factor for us - we have been spending up to £13,000 a month on the vans,” says Waddell.
“The Prius in real terms works out about £100 a month more to hire than the vans - but then, we’re getting twice the miles per gallon.”
The resulting positive feedback helped to persuade the management that hybrid cars were the way forward.
“We’re always looking at ways of doing things more efficiently and with less impact environmentally," says Waddell.
“We also want to be seen by our customers to be green on the road.
“So when we set out our latest three-year plan, with environmental care as one of our core values, we decided to go with Prius at the same time.”
The first six sign-written Prius five-door hatchbacks were delivered in late June.
They were supplied on a four-year/80,000 mile contract-hire agreement by JCT600 through Ron Brooks Mansfield.
Keep up to date with all the latest Toyota car reviews with Fleet News.
Author
Debbie Wood
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