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The start of any new year brings a rush of media predictions for the next 12 months, some more outlandish than others.
Amongst all of the crystal ball gazing, one piece of positive news from 2012 appears to have largely slipped under the radar.
On 7 January, the SMMT announced that two million new cars were sold in the UK in 2012.
This figure doesn't immediately seem remarkable, until the broader economic climate is taken into consideration.
The two million sales actually represent an increase of 5.3% on 2011 and the highest figure recorded since 2008. Of the two million new cars purchased, over half (1,025,501) went to fleets.
As fleet managers seek greater efficiency in their vehicle choice, this influence over the new car market should encourage manufacturers to continue to drive down emissions and create ever more fuel-thrifty vehicles.
To an extent, this change is already becoming apparent, with the Ford Fiesta topping the best seller list for the past two years. In its most powerful guise, the Fiesta still falls into road tax category D, with maximum CO2 emissions of 154g/km.
In addition to this rise, registrations of alternative fuel cars rose 9.4% in 2012 achieving 1.4% market share - a new high.
These lower emitting vehicles are great news for the environment, but less so for the Government - in financial terms at least.
After incentivising the uptake of greener vehicles as part of its commitment to reduce CO2 emissions the government now has to face up to the reality of lower vehicle excise duty (VED) receipts.
In a previous piece, I wrote about the importance of avoiding a headlong rush towards road tolls to plug this gap, and it is likely that a number of fundraising options will be mooted in the coming months.
It would appear that new car purchasers and by extension, fleet drivers, have upheld their end of the bargain and been willing to choose cleaner vehicles, in return for the tax incentives on offer.
Any move now to raise additional revenue directly from this group of motorists would be counterproductive.
Even at this early stage of the year, all motor industry eyes are already turning to the Chancellor's 2013 Budget, set to be announced on 20 March, with reasonable concern that efforts to adopt greener vehicles may be rewarded with a new financial levy on Britain's drivers.
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