S h a r e
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV retains green crown at Fleet Alliance
Posted by
Fiona Irving
March 2019
The Mitsubishi Outlander plug in hybrid has retained its crown as the most popular green model on the Fleet Alliance fleet of 28,000 vehicles. The Outlander, which has average CO2 emissions of just 44g/km, was the most popular green model in 2017 and in terms of orders was again the most popular green model in 2018.
It remains to be seen whether this popularity remains throughout this year, following the Government’s highly criticised decision at the end of last October to abolish the Plug In Car Grant for plug in hybrids, including the Outlander.
The Outlander was followed by the Kia Niro, Kia’s first crossover hybrid, which has average CO2 emissions of 64g/km, and like the Outland is an Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV). It too loses its financial support following the Government’s decision.
In third place was the Toyota C-HR hybrid which has a
The Fleet Alliance green top ten for 2018
Make and model | Avg CO2 |
Mitsubishi Outlander | 44 |
Kia Niro | 64 |
Toyota C-HR | 88 |
Ford Fiesta | 97 |
BMW 3-Series | 100 |
Ford Focus | 101 |
Renault Clio | 105 |
Kia Ceed | 109 |
Volkswagen Passat | 109 |
BMW 5-Series | 111 |
(Average CO2 emissions for top ten: 92.8g/km)
Top Ten green models ordered by BCH customers
However, there were different buying preferences between business and personal contract hire customers when it came to the most popular green models.
For business contract hire (BCH) customers, the Outlander was again in first place, although it did not even appear in the top ten green models ordered by personal contract hire (PCH) customers who opted instead of the Nissan Qashqai, which has CO2 emissions of 117g/km.
The second most popular green model for BCH customers was the Toyota C-HR hybrid (86g/km) and this was followed by the Volvo XC90 (91g/km) and the BMW 3-Series (95g/km).
Make and model | Avg CO2 |
Mitsubishi Outlander | 44 |
Toyota C-HR | 86 |
Volvo XC90 | 91 |
BMW 3-Series | 95 |
Ford Fiesta | 97 |
Ford Focus | 101 |
BMW 5-Series | 104 |
Volkswagen Passat | 109 |
Nissan Qashqai | 109 |
Audi A4 | 110 |
(Average CO2 emissions for
Top Ten green models ordered by PCH customers
BCH customer preference contrasted quite sharply with PCH customers for whom carbon emissions did not appear to have such an impact on the purchasing decision, perhaps because they were not liable to Benefit-in-Kind taxation based on the car’s CO2 output.
The average CO2emissions of the top ten green models ordered by PCH customers was therefore much higher at 131.5g/km.
The Nissan Qashqai in
Make and model | Avg CO2 |
Nissan Qashqai | 117 |
Volvo S90 | 122 |
BMW 5-Series | 125 |
Mercedes A-Class | 126 |
Mercedes C-Class | 129 |
Mercedes E-Class | 133 |
BMW 2-Series | 134 |
BMW 4-Series | 142 |
Jaguar E Pace | 144 |
Kia Sportage | 144 |
(Average CO2 emissions for top ten: 131.5 g/km)
Fleet Alliance managing director Martin Brown said the make-up of the Fleet Alliance fleet arguably reflected a greater desire to go green and thus to keep BIK bills under control amongst business contract hire customers than those on personal contracts.
“We are seeing a quite clear correlation between new cars ordered and BIK bills amongst our business contract hire customers,” he said.
“This does not apply to our personal contract hire customers as much and, as a result, average CO2 emissions are therefore much higher on our PCH fleet. This is a clear indication of the success of a tax policy which links tax to CO2 emissions, although it’s quite clear when tax is not involved car buyers’ habits change somewhat.
Mr Brown continued: “Last year we saw the first-ever increase in average CO2 levels on our fleet due to a switch to petrol, which was most pronounced amongst our personal contract hire customers. Average CO2 emissions for our PCH customers went up from 127g/km in 2017 to 138g/km in 2018, a rise of 8.66%.
“Therefore the decision of the Government to abolish the Plug In Car Grants for plug in hybrids last autumn seems to make very little sense as it is no longer an attraction for this type of vehicle. Instead, more of our customers are opting for petrol-engined models which has led to a general across the board increase in CO2 emissions, which is a very frustrating development,” he said.
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