PHEVs are fast becoming some of the most important cars on our roads as more of us switch from pure combustion to electrified power. These are our favourites
The UK company car market is in the midst of a seismic shift right now.
The adoption of the latest WLTP emissions testing standard, combined with another tightening down of CO2-based UK company car tax rules, has really marginalised the suitability of conventional petrol- and diesel-powered cars for fleet use and shifted the spotlight squarely and unflinchingly onto the modern plug-in hybrid.
Volkswagen Passat GTE (Image: T. Larkum)
As many company car drivers will have already discovered to their cost, if you want to continue paying anything like the same benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax on a company car in 2020 as you did in 2019, the only way to do it – if you haven’t already – is to move out of a petrol or diesel car and into a PHEV.
These are the cars you should be considering for that big move. All are electrified hybrid options that’ll get you into the sub-50g/km CO2 money-saving BIK club, although, depending on their officially certified electric-only range, some currently qualify for a tax liability at 8% of their P11D price, some at 12% and others at 14%. Here’s how to choose wisely.
1. BMW 330e
BMW’s competitors have followed its lead so many times when seeking success in the UK fleet market over the past few decades. It makes perfect sense, then, that BMW was the first premium brand to offer the market a really convincing plug-in hybrid executive option in the shape of the previous 330e, and that it should continue to lead the field with the current one.
The latest 330e combines a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with an electric drive motor mounted upstream of the gearbox, making it handle and behave much like any other G20-generation 3-Series. It imposes a relative penalty on boot space compared with its conventionally powered siblings, but it’s unlikely that typical business users will notice the shortage, and cabin space is unharmed.
Read more: Autocar
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