As oil prices continue to increase over the past few months it seems that the car manufacturers across the world have split into two separate camps. The first camp has invested a fairly significant amount of money and effort in developing hybrid and electrical vehicles some of which have been launched onto the market. These car manufacturers include Toyota and Honda in particular with Toyota being one of the first manufacturers to launch a hybrid vehicle back in the late 1990s. Honda though has taken this a step further and is set to launch their sports car CR-Z later this year. The design looks sleek and modern which is the style Honda has maintained over the last few years. In the other camp are the car manufacturers that haven’t yet released a hybrid or electrical car and haven’t really invested any substantial time or money into any greening projects.

There is however a camp in the middle of both sides. This camp is where several “concept” hybrid or electrical cars have appeared in trade shows and other promotional advertising has been carried out but more of a PR exercise. These concept vehicles might look amazing in their shiny colours but really it is simply a very pretty piece of cardboard. Take Audi for example they have recently promoted a concept electrical sports vehicle at the Detroit Auto show. There really isn’t much worse than when a company advertise a product that you can’t even purchase yet. Although Audi boast a selection of new and used Audi vehicles on the market their lack of commitment to any hybrid or electrical vehicles is plain to see. According to Audi it won’t be until 2011 at the earliest when a hybrid vehicle will be launched and a year later for an electrical vehicle. This is surprising in many ways that some car manufacturers and indeed oil companies aren’t investing more heavily into renewable sources and vehicles that can use alternative methods because many scientists suggest that oil will run out during our life time.

Although certain car companies haven’t invested in hybrid or electrical vehicles there has been a massive step in the right direction in terms of improvements in the amount of emissions produced and the efficiency of vehicles. In the UK this has partially been spurred on due to the change in road tax rules. Each vehicle is given a separate tax band depending on the engine size and amount of emissions that it produces. In some cases if the vehicle is hybrid for example there is no road tax to pay. If there is a small engine and it produces a low amount of emissions then the cost is £20-£35. Vehicles that have large engines and produce a high amount of emissions have to pay more which usually includes sports cars. It can cost more than £250 per year to tax these types of cars. The road tax for new and used Audi vehicles usually range in price from £100-250+ per year.

Author Bio: Zoe Giles is a writer and a car enthusiast. She currently writes for the automotive industry. Here she discusses Used Audi cars.

Category: Automotive
Keywords: Used Audi,Audi,Cars,Automotive