Car Manufacturers turn up their ‘eco’ credentials in bid to sell more cars

Manufacturers turn up the ‘eco’ volume.
Car Manufacturers are continuing to turn up the ‘eco’ volume on their model ranges, just at the time when recent research is showing greater demand for lower emissions cars.

Volkswagen announced details of its Up supermini (which as noted on numerous sites seems to have sensibly dropped the exclamation mark at the end of the model name), which will achieve just under 100mpg. The car will use a derivative of the engine found in the XL1 super-sleek concept car. The Up essentially runs one half of VW’s existing 1.6-litre four-pot turbodiesel, with a power output of 47bhp from the engine and an extra 26bhp from an electric motor. Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly for a car of this size, it will have a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Stop-start and regenerative braking are both utilised to achieve the emissions figures, which will undoubtedly be well below 100g/km.

The German brand is also planning a Golf that is capable of achieving 100mpg by 2020. There is pressure on all manufacturers to get their average emissions figures for their models down to 95g/km within the decade, so electric and hybrid drive is likely to be seen not just in VW’s fleet, but in most manufacturers’ model ranges.

Competing in the Golf segment, although coming to market immediately, is Peugeot’s revised 308. The super-frugal version of the new 308 will use the e-HDi motor with stop-start technology and other ‘green’ features like low rolling resistance tyres to achieve tailpipe emissions of just 98g/km.
In the segment above, Ford is also lowering the emissions of its Mondeo with a new derivative that will kick out just 114g/km CO2. Stop-start technology helps the 113bhp model achieve the figure from its 1.6-litre turbodiesel engine. The Blue Oval brand has confirmed that the engine will also appear in its S-Max and Galaxy models, with further details still to be confirmed.

Looking for an eco car or trying to sell yours? Try online car sales sites such as www.cararena.co.uk to see what they believe your best offer should or could be.