Green Motion Vehicle Rental, the Environmentally Friendly Car Hire Company

Green Motion Vehicle Rental, Europe’s most environmentally-friendly car hire company, has taken delivery of its first Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion models, enabling it to offer customers the opportunity to rent vehicles with class-leading carbon dioxide emissions and fuel economy.  Later in the year, Green Motion will add BlueMotion versions of the Golf hatchback and Estate and Passat Saloon and Estate to its fleet, widening the choice of environmentally-friendly cars.

Green Motion was founded by Richard Lowden, who is also the Managing Director of the company, and started trading in October 2007.  It operates a strict fleet process, running only vehicles with class-leading CO2 emissions and which feature CO2 reduction technology.  The organisation currently has three active hire locations, in Oxford, Palmers Green in North London and Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

The first Polo BlueMotion will be allocated to the Palmers Green operation.  It has been supplied by Ridgeway Volkswagen in Newbury, Berkshire, and is funded by Lombard Vehicle Management.  The Golf and Passat models will start to arrive later in the year, with a minimum order of over 300 vehicles in total.

Richard Lowden commented: ‘We are delighted to welcome Volkswagen’s BlueMotion product onto our fleet.  Being able to offer our customers the choice to hire quality Volkswagen product while making their contribution to reducing their carbon footprint represents a unique and powerful selling opportunity.’

Volkswagen Fleet Services’ Rental and Direct Sales Manager, Nick Berry, said: ‘The Polo has been very well received since launch and we’re delighted that Green Motion has decided to add a number of our BlueMotion products to its hire fleet.  Customers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their motoring activities and our vehicles enable them to “do their bit” while offering a high quality driving experience.’

The BlueMotion tag identifies the most fuel-efficient model in each of Volkswagen’s passenger car ranges.  Applied to the Polo this translates to a combined economy figure of 74.3 mpg and emissions of 99 g/km of CO2 – as such it is exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty.  Based on a standard Polo, the car has been maximised for efficiency, with aerodynamics, engine, gears, wheels, tyres, interior and body sound deadening all optimised to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.  The engine is a three-cylinder 1.4-litre TDI 80 PS unit with diesel particulate filter.