HOW low can you go? On company car CO2 emissions, I mean.

Until now, if you wanted an upmarket executive car and low company car tax then the choice was really between the BMW 520d and the Audi A6 2.0 TDI on a score draw: both had CO2 emissions of 129g/km equating to a company car tax banding of 18%.

Pretty good for company car tax on many levels.

But now BMW has taken the high ground by going lower: the astonishing BMW 520d EfficientDynamics is appearing on the horizon this September with CO2 emissions of 119g/km. For business car drivers, that means a benefit in kind company car tax banding of just 13%.

That’s some gap BMW has opened up on its opposition. I was speaking about the 520d EfficientDynamics to Jon Gilbert last week from car leasing company ING Car Lease.

“BMW appears to be ahead of the game when it comes to CO2 emissions and producing attractive cars,” said Jon, who is director of account management & customer service at ING’s leasing division.

“I’ve always been more an Audi person rather than a BMW, but you can’t argue when BMW keeps getting its company car products spot on. And whether you can actually achieve the claimed 62.8mpg, people are getting so fed up with fuel costs that they are driving more economically now anyway. So the 520 EfficientDynamics is likely to appeal on that score, too.”

It’s certainly true. Eking fuel out by driving more efficiently has become something of a pastime with me: drive smoothly, drive efficiently and you invariably cover ground more quickly. And save money on fuel, too.

Once you’ve got the point of this, it becomes quite addictive. Try it for yourself. And save some money on fuel at the same time.