Meanwhile, improved travel planning and mileage management by both businesses and company car drivers as a result of a focus on carbon footprint reduction has contributed to the steady decline in journey distances in recent years.
ALD uses a total cost of ownership fleet software programme that analyses in detail every single factor - both corporate and personal - impacting on vehicle funding and car choice to help businesses make the optimum vehicle selection.
ALD Automotive marketing director David Yates said: “The software enables ALD to identify the base fleet cost for companies and then identify vehicles that meet that criteria. As a result we can deliver substantial funding and operating cost savings to employers and benefit-in-kind tax savings to drivers.
“The economic downturn increased the spotlight on the cost of motoring from both a fleet management and driver perspective. Coupled with the Government using motoring taxes to influence the take-up of low emission company cars, our total cost of ownership approach is significantly influencing vehicle choice.”
Finally, despite more hybrid models becoming available and mainstream manufacturers due to launch zero emission electric models early in 2011, Mr Yates believes that low emission fuel-sipping petrol and diesel company cars will continue to dominate fleet choice lists for the foreseeable future.
He said: “Hybrid and electric vehicles will be a niche choice for most fleets. While there is interest in these vehicles, petrol and diesel vehicles are a known quantity and deliver, in many cases, exactly what fleets and drivers want - low emissions, excellent fuel economy and a desirable total cost of ownership.”
To check out your fleet co2 emissions, come to the Fleet News co2 emissions section for more information.
adamrollins - 22/07/2010 16:18
The Clean Green Cars article slightly contradicts the ALD Automotive study that paints a brighter picture. There could be more validation of the statistics by showing how many vehicles each study has evaluated. I would agree with David Yates from ALD though that there are significant environmental and financial savings to be made by looking at aspects other than CO2 emission figures. This is just one of many boxes to tick. Mileage management, journey management, driver behaviour, maintenance, etc should all be considered to achieve best value for money and the environment. For those put off by thinking mileage management, etc is for companies the size of ALD, these measures are all available to small fleets just as readily as the large through systems such as can be seen at www.midas-fms.com