New Range Rover PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid) could save business users MORE than £10k a YEAR

The new Range Rover P400e plug-in hybrid will be a big tax saver for business users, with the new PHEV costing more than £10k a year less for many.

The new 2018 Range Rover arrived last week with its sleeker styling and improved interior, along with more technology and sensible tweaks. But it’s the arrival of the Range Rover Hybrid which is perhaps the most significant.

Taking an existing platform and making a hybrid powertrain work isn’t the best solution, but Land Rover look to have done a good job of integrating the new 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol engine and electric motor to deliver a Range Rover with the potential to offer the best of both worlds – economy and performance.

But the truth is with plug-in hybrids that the only time they really deliver daft economy is if they’re being used a lot of the time with the electric motor, so those used by ladies who lunch and pop to Waitrose for free range unicorn horn will find the new PHEV very cheap to run.

But those bought for business and used to drive real miles can probably expect real world performance and economy to be pretty close to what they’d get out of a diesel Range Rover much of the time. So why buy the PHEV Range Rover, especially as it’s more expensive?

Apart from the fact it’s not a diesel, the simple answer is tax breaks, and choosing the PHEV over even the diesel can mean significant savers for business users.

Taking the 3.0 TDV6 Autobiography as a company car would mean BIK rates of 37 per cent and an annual tax cost for a 40 per cent taxpayer of around £14.5k (£16.5k for a 45 per cent taxpayer).

It’s the same 37 per cent if you opt for the more expensive 5.0 V8 Autobiography, with the 40 per cent taxpayer losing £16k to the tax man every year, and the 45 per cent taxpayer £18k. Company cars are not exactly the perk they once were.

But if you were to opt for the new Range Rover PHEV – which sits between the two, costing around £106k for the Autobiography – you will only pay a 13 per cent BIK rate. That means a 40 per cent taxpayer would pay around £5.5k a year and a 45 per cent taxpayer around £6.2k.

It’s a very sensible move from Land Rover, and really, why would any business user now buy anything other than the Range Rover PHEV?

2018 Range Rover Video

2018 Range Rover Photos