Lotus A-Tax The Fleet Market
Published: 23rd October 2002
With the sports car now able to pitch favourably against almost any car in the fleet sector Lotus is about to go ahead with a campaign to attract company car drivers.
As a comparison, for a 40 per cent taxpayer the 120bhp Elise has a tax burden of £1,563 - similar to those faced by drivers of some mid-sized saloons on the market.
According to Phil Greenwood, a sales manager for Lotus, this new business could add up to 200 extra sales to the current UK total of 1,500 - an increase of 13 per cent.
Greenwood said: “Lots of guys have realised that if they do no more than 10,000 miles a year and they don't need the boot space then they can still be tax efficient with a sports car.”
Markets to be targeted by Lotus include small companies, media, accountants, solicitors and top salesmen. According to Greenwood, early feedback from talks with fleet buyers has been very positive and this has led to the company currently constructing a competitive hire contract proposition.
“We've done some prospecting and found that they
[fleet buyers] have not been down this part of the market
before because of the tax burden. You think of sports cars
as gas guzzlers,” said Greenwood.
