Gareth Huw Davies

Environment Blog

Another car ad promoting low mileage – Volvo's latest

Will fleet buyers get Volvo's low mileage message?

Another advert by a major car maker promoting the environmental credentials of its vehicle.

Last September it was Vauxhall saying this of its Corsa Eco Flex’s combined mileage of 76.3 – “Put the fun back into driving” (although they could have been even more explicit with something like “Save the planet, and your wallet”). See my earlier post here

Now we have Volvo, advertising its V50, 1.6D DRIVe model in The Week:

“99 g per kilometre CO2 and zero congestion charge.”
Volvo, too, have a pretty anodyne blurb at the top of the page about “sweet talking the boss…with figures”, but that’s to be expected as this ad is very much aimed at the company car fleet buyer. However, that central eco-claim is as strong as you’ll see in any mainstream car advert.

The statutory small print at the bottom of the page gives the mileage breakdown — urban 65.7; extra urban 30.7.  And notes that this was based on a five-day commute into London. Helpful transparency.

I have to declare an interest here. I rented one of these cars earlier this year in Sweden, and was highly impressed with the mileage, and not having to fill up once in about 850 km of driving.

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