Half of all Vauxhall and Opel sales are now EcoFLEX models, the car maker reveals at the Frankfurt Motor Show, as the second of two press days gets under way.
The EcoFLEX sub-brand is designed to denote Vauxhall’s and its European sister, Opel’s lowest emission models. EcoFLEX models use greener technology including revised gearing, low roll resistance tyres and start-stop systems. Launched in 2008, EcoFLEX models are available across the Vauxhall/Opel car range, with these derivatives offering emissions of between 94g/km to just 134g/km CO2.
Now four years old, the sub-brand now has 60 derivatives. Other carmakers may have models with a lower CO2 than their Vauxhall Opel counterparts but that does not worry sales and marketing chief Alain Visser.
"To have the lowest CO2 in a single model is not our strategy, we want to have a low average across the whole range of our cars. The important thing also is to ensure our vehicles remain good to drive.
"There are still improvements to be made in conventional engines and we are in the middle of developing a small petrol engine, which can go down to 1-litre and this will be ready in the next couple of years," he told news agency Headlineauto.com.
Visser added that he would like to see some evening out of environmental standards across Europe. "Every country has its own variations and tax levels on emissions and despite the fact we have a European Union, many of these standards have become too ingrained in each country – we would expect some consistency or guidelines."
In the UK, EcoFLEX models for the 20% capital allowance rate and qualify for £0 VED in the first year, except the Zafira ecoFLEX models, which pay a VED rate of £115. Many fit under the 110g/km CO2 threshold for 100 per cent first year capital allowance too.
