Company car tax ‘easement’ creates loophole for luxury PHEVs

Plug-in hybrids that emit more than 50g/km could be reclassified as emitting 1g/km under Treasury’s new system

The Treasury’s “easement” protecting plug-in hybrid drivers from incoming company car tax hikes has opened a loophole for the highest-emitting and most luxurious models, Autocar has learned. 
New Euro 6e-bis emissions rules came into force across the EU on 1 January, including a new way of calculating CO2 emissions for PHEVs. 
It assumes their electric driving accounts for a much lower share of real-world usage, which means mechanically unchanged vehicles will get a higher CO2 figure as manufacturers retest them to the new standard ahead of the 31 December deadline.
This creates a big challenge in the UK, where PHEVs’ low published CO2 emissions have created an 80% fleet-weighted market, according to Department for Transport data.
PHEVs emitting between 1 and 50g/km CO2 fall into one of five low company car tax bands – currently between 2% and 15% – according to their elect