The Chancellor Alistair Darling announced yesterday that the planned increases in VED will be delayed and also brought in more slowly than had been initially planned.  The highlights of the pre budget report are:

• From April 2009, six new bands of VED will be introduced, taking the total from seven to thirteen. However, VED rates will not increase by more than £5 for any car in this year;

• From April 2010, in order for the new bands to create an environmental incentive, the Government will start to separate out the 13 differential rates.  As a result, cars below 150 g/km will see a real terms cut in their VED, of up to £30. Cars up to 175 g/km will see no real terms increase in their VED. Cars 176 g/km and above will see a tax increase of between £20 and £30;

• From April 2010, a differential First-Year Rate for new vehicles will be introduced as announced in Budget 2008, in order to provide a stronger signal for consumers at the point of purchase;

• Cars that emit over 225 g/km, but were registered between 1 March 2001 and 23 March 2006, will be moved into the new band K in 2009 and stay there in 2010. This will mean that they maintain their exemption from the top rate of VED.

• For Cars Registered before 2001 it was announced that in 2009 the lower rate of VED for these vehicles would be frozen and the higher rate would be increased by £15. In line with the changes to main VED rates, this change will be postponed for a year, and on 1 April 2009 both rates will instead increase by £5. These rates will also apply to light goods vehicles registered before 2001.

The report says:

As a result of these reforms to graduated VED, no driver in any given band will pay more than £5 extra in 2009. In 2010-11, when more significant rate changes are introduced, a majority of drivers will either pay less or the same as in 2009. When the Government introduces First-Year Rates for newly purchased cars in 2010, new cars under 130 g/km will pay no VED at all in the first year of use, whereas the very highest emitting cars will pay £950. The full set of rates is set out in Table 7.1 below.

Table 7.1

*Alternative fuel discount: 2009-10, A-I £20, J-M £15; 2010-11 onwards, £10 all cars
** Includes cars emitting over 225g/km registered between 1 March 2001 and 23 March 2006

The full report can be found on the Budget minisite here.

Audi has opted to make small changes on the design of its new generation of Audi A6s and focused most of its efforts on developing range of new engines with improved economy and lower CO2 emissions. Major changes on exterior design are the addition of LED daytime-running lights, as used on the Audi R8, the front bumper has been restyled, LED tail lamps and a gentle lip on the boot lid round off the exterior design changes.

With the rising fuel costs and new emissions regulations in the UK and Europe, Audi focused on developing a range of new eco-friendly engines, with two new engines making debuts: a 3.0-litre V6 TFSI petrol, which replaces the old 3.2-litre unit, and an ultra-efficient 134bhp 2.0-litre named the TDIe, which along with the other 2.0-litre TDI is predicted to be the UK’s most popular engine choice, accounting for approximately 65 per cent of all A6 sales, with 95 per cent of total sales in Britain expected to be diesels.

The new Audi A6 TDIe is the greenest of the upgraded A6 range, the “e” stands for efficient, it has a combined fuel consumption of 53.3mpg and CO2 emissions of 139g/km, which qualifies this A6 model for the lowest company car tax band for a diesel.

Below is a complete list of all the engines available for this new generation of Audi A6s, alongside with their specifications:

Audi A6 Engine Options

Conor Mills writing in the telegraph says:

It’s going to be a stiff challenge for the company to retain its crown as top executive saloon with BMW’s new 5-Series and the revised E-class on the way, but on this showing we wouldn’t want to bet against Audi.

You can see the rest of the review here