We seem to go through waves pf demands for vehicles that car manufacturers have to adapt to very quickly if they wish to remain successful. Not so long ago the SUV or 4×4’s as we like to call them in the UK were the thing to have, we even seemed to handle the high fuel costs of the time. But now, we are back to where the success of companies and especially those with large fleets of vehicles have to control their purse stings more than ever.
As so many cars are sold to companies for fleet use, manufacturers know they have to keep their customers costs down, if they want to share in the success, so low emissions are now high priority with other things such as cheaper replacement parts and services.
One of the latest manufacturers to announce lower costs for its fleet drivers is Mazda, who claim their new Mazda 3 will deliver lower fleet costs, the Co2 figure quoted is 3.5 less than before on some models and residual values being set at 30%, of course customer demand may change resalable values. This means that some models will drop on their benefit in kind tax obligation, making them more attractive to fleet drivers as well as the companies who tend to lease or buy them.
Most manufacturers of course are now trying to deliver the same comfort and performance as before with lower costs to run, as they know only be giving the customer what they want will deliver success.