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The start point for the best source of fleet information |
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If ever there was a car that was destined to appear in the long-term test pages of BusinessCar, it's the Vauxhall Insignia, especially in revised form.
Vauxhall's upper medium model is a big fleet seller - the manufacturer shifted, just under 40,000 units overall in the UK in 2012, with around 80% of that figure ending up in the hands of business car customers.
Furthermore, Vauxhall has facelifted the Insignia this year [1], incorporating changes that are designed to make the car even more appealing to the fleet market through improving whole-life costs.
Chief among those are tweaks to the engines and aerodynamics that have brought the headline CO2 figure down by 112g/km to 98g/km (and improved official economy to 76.3mpg (up from 67.3mpg), numbers that are low enough to put it top of the class.
As well as better emissions and economy, the changes also have a positive impact on benefit-in-kind and National Insurance taxation, as well as residual values. Vauxhall itself has described its thinking as addressing "the rational elements that underpin decision-making", and claims whole-life cost reductions running into the thousands.
Our model also comes in the fleet-friendly Tech Line trim. The specification is available on other Vauxhalls (we've tried it before on a Zafira Tourer long-termer), and is designed to ensure that corporate drivers and businesses can benefit from the latest technology without having to overdose on the options list and therefore pay out large sums of money in P11D price or lease rates and BIK.
That technology includes the new IntelliLink system, which enables you to control the in-car infotainment in a variety of ways, satellite navigation with 8-inch touch-screen and touch-pad control [2], Bluetooth, DAB radio [3] and USB connection.
All of that makes this Insignia as fleety a car as can be. However, this focus on rationality begs the question as to whether Vauxhall has sacrificed some of the aspects of car ownership - drivability and looks, for instance - that appeal to the heart (although this arguably has little place in a fleet context). I like the swoopy profile, so externally at least the Vauxhall is off to a good start in this area.
We'll find out over the next six months whether it can build on this beginning and combine a little emotional appeal with the undoubted hard-headed fleet pragmatism.
| Mileage: | 867 |
| Claimed combined consumption: | 76.3mpg |
| Our average consumption: | 52.3mpg |
| Forecast CPM: | 48.2p |
| Actual CPM: | 50.1p |
| P11D price (without options): | £21,594 |
| Price range: | £17,909-£32,799 |
| Depreciation cost: | £14,794 |
| Fuel cost: | £4930 |
| SMR cost: | £1832 |
| VED: | £0 |
| National Insurance: | £1371 |
| Insurance: | £3000 |
| C02 (tax): | 99g/km (14%) |
| BIK?@?20/40% per month: | £50/£101 |
Verdict |
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Business Car Magazine © 2020 | Business Car is part of NS Media Group.
