Demand for environmentally-friendly cars may wane
Car fleet managers may be tempted to forego selecting economic or environmentally-friendly cars for their business as petrol prices remain low.
Research carried out by DPA found that the number of eco-friendly cars purchased in November fell year-on-year, and as such it is quite likely that the falls in the price of petrol in the UK will lead to a similar drop in demand.
Such a move may in fact be a false economy, however, as Opec has made repeated calls to reduce oil production and has hinted that it needs a stable oil price of around $70 a barrel simply to make exploration worthwhile.
The weak pound also means that, once oil prices begin to rise again, they will rise particularly fast in the UK meaning car fleet managers will be highly exposed to fluctuating petrol prices.
The number of electric cars is slowly rising, though, and US president elect Barack Obama has said that he would consider investing in the technology for part of an economic stimulus, which could see even greater choice for electric cars for car fleet managers.
