Business news and advise

If you’re looking for a change of vehicle, the natural thing to do is to start poring over the statistical data to gauge performance figures, mileage per gallon, level of eco-friendliness and whatever other stats you’re particularly interested in.

But in my (practically based…) experience, this is a fundamental mistake. By far the wiser thing to do is to look at the history of each major motor manufacturer and to analyse their various track records – and to use this as your starting point

OK, you may quite logically think that “history is bunk” when it comes to performance on the current crop of cars available. And rapidly changing technology in the types of eco cars punters are chasing in ever-greater quantities for example may, to some extent, change the fundamental mechanics on which you’re making your decisions. But without history, what else have we to go on?

Of course, this is particularly true when it comes to new car offers. At least with used cars, you can read the individual road test reports etc. But there’s such a surfeit of those out there that it’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Each model has its quirks and foibles which may or may not bother you. It’s all down to personal tastes and needs.

Thankfully, though it’s far and away easier to make the basic decision of which manufacturer to go for – based on objective analysis of all of the major car maker’s history and performance data. And on that basis alone, the wisest choice simply has to be a Honda.

That’s because Honda has been found to be the UK’s most reliable car manufacturer for an unprecedented six years in a row by the What Car? and Warranty Direct annual survey. And you can’t ask for much more than that. The ability to get from A to B successfully has to be the single main decision starting point for me.

Increasingly, companies in the UK have started to adopt hybrid cars as their fleet vehicles.  It makes a lot of sense. Firstly, hybrids offer great fuel economy compared to conventional cars.  Secondly, they also have low emissions, so it’s advantageous for the company’s green sustainability credentials.
Choosing a greener company car fleet makes financial sense for fuel economy but also helps to build staff morale as green issues become ever more relevant in today’s society.
With their forward-thinking green attitude, Ikea was one of the first companies in the UK to adopt hybrid cars for their company car fleet back in the UK, back in 2007.  The Swedish furniture chain started off with 50 Honda Civic Hybrids, replacing half of their 100 company fleet cars in 2007 and the other half in 2008.
The Honda Civic Hybrids can average 61.4 miles per gallon and produce carbon dioxide emissions of 109g/km. Driving hybrids also means a much reduced road tax fee for a company car fleet.
Sainsbury followed suit when they recently agreed a car fleet arrangement with Toyota. The supermarket will have 400 Toyota Prius models for its staff to use.
The Prius is probably one of the best known hybrid cars in the UK.  It has a conventional petrol engine plus an electric motor.  Its official combined fuel consumption figure is 65.7 miles per gallon and it can run on electric alone while in slow moving traffic.  Its carbon dioxide emissions are 104g/km and it has zero particulate emissions.  As a low emissions car, the Prius is exempt from the London Congestion Charge.
It’s inevitable that more companies will adopt hybrid cars as their fleet car of choice, as they are far more economical to run and help to reduce a company’s carbon dioxide emissions.