THE England women’s football team may have bombed out of the 2013 Women’s Euros tournament, but England captain, Casey Stoney, still shows she knows how to score.
Casey has just netted a shiny new Vauxhall Ampera.
Vauxhall Ampera factfile
- P11D: From £34,490
- Type: extended range electric hatchback
- CO2 emissions: 27g/km
- MPG: 235.4mpg (weighted combined fuel consumption)
- MPG: 56.5 (flat battery, petrol only)
- Company car tax band: 5%
- 0-62mph: 8.7s
Casey is the latest in a long line of high-profile sports stars to cotton on to electric driving.
The range-extending Vauxhall Ampera hybrid is one of the most fuel-efficient cars currently on sale. It has a 1.4-litre petrol engine that feeds power to a small generator, giving the Vauxhall Ampera an all-electric range of around 25-50 miles, and an overall range of more than 300 miles.
All this makes for an ideal proposition for company car drivers and SME business car managers looking to lower the ever-increasing running costs of their company cars.
Astonishingly low 27g/km CO2 emissions result in just 5% benefit in kind company car tax, meaning even a higher rate tax payer will pay just £699 per year.
If you fall into the lower 20% bracket, you’ll be shelling out a tiny £349 per year.
In contrast, a petrol-powered Ford Focus 1.6 Studio will cost £1428 and £714 per year respectively.
Not only is the Vauxhall Ampera cheap to run, it also comes laden with all the right business kit you’d expect for a company car.
The Ampera’s specification includes a sat nav, DVD player with a 30GB hard drive, and a powerful Bose stereo. LED daytime running lights, digital radio and Bluetooth connectivity are also standard across the range.
Stoney is clearly buzzing about the prospect of running this plug-in hybrid, too. On collection she said: “I’m thrilled to be driving such a state-of-the-art vehicle.”
Stoney’s new Ampera comes as a result of Vauxhall’s lengthy sponsorship of women’s football, which has just been extended to 2018. Stoney is one of the most capped females ever, reaching an impressive 100 international caps when she played for England against Cyprus last year.
Duncan Aldred, Vauxhall chairman and managing director, said: “We’re very pleased to add Casey to our growing stable of footballers who are enjoying the cutting-edge technology of our revolutionary extended-range electric vehicle.
“For a player who has achieved so much within the women’s game to be paired with our universally-acclaimed e-REV (electric range extending vehicle) is fantastic.”