Diesel, petrol and hybrid versions of BMW 5 Series to be offered for medium term rental by Meridian Vehicle Solutions.

In what the rental company believes to be a “UK first”, Meridian has responded to changing fleet demands for different fuel options to meet the varying needs to today’s fleets.

Meridian Vehicle Solutions managing director Phil Jerome said: “As recently as a year ago, we were a diesel-only fleet but the situation is changing quite quickly and fleets are rapidly becoming accustomed to operating a range of fuel types.

“As a broad simplification, those who are covering high mileages tend to choose diesel, those who are concerned about the environment go for petrol and those who are concerned about personal taxation choose a hybrid. It is a question of priorities.”

Meridian hopes to provide a choice of petrol and diesel in each model range it offered, plus hybrids where available. At the moment, it could already deliver petrol or diesel versions of the Volvo V40, Mercedes A-Class and Volvo XC60.

“The fact is that hybrid versions of some of our most popular models are in very high demand and, if we could buy them, we would put them on the fleet. However, over time, we intend to offer all over our most popular model ranges in all three fuel configurations.

Jerome added that Meridian was also starting to consider offering a small selection of EVs.

“This is something that we are monitoring. At the moment, we simply don’t get asked about these vehicles but the experience of the last 12 months shows how quickly the situation regarding fleet fuel preferences can change, so we are on a watching brief.”

The BMW 520i, 520d and 530e are all expected to be on the Meridian fleet by April.