A group of British MP’s have urged their government to use luxury Jaguar cars over Japanese hybrid cars that run on a mix of electricity and petrol. The British government in order to fullfill its international agreements of cut carbon dioxide emmisions follow a policy of favouring Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrid for its fleet of cars. According to reports, 53 of the toal 84 cars in the British Government’s ministerial fleet are Japanese hybrid vehicles and only 10 Jaguars.

The group of MP’s lead by Sion Simon from the region around the city of Birmingham, home to the Jaguar factories, says that the Government has a duty to buy Jaguars which inspite of their luxury status are envriomently friendly. The demand follows after Indian Major Tata has taken over Jaguar and has announced an investment 700 million pounds in research and development.

The Jaguar in question is the XJ 2.7 Diesel which recently won the title of Britain’s greenest luxury car in the 2008 Buyer’s Buide from the Environmental Transport Association. The MP’s argued argued on ‘greeness’ of the Japanese hybrids saying the audit doesnt take into account the fact that they are shipped all the way from Japan and also the complex manufacturing process requires nickel to be mined for use in the batteries.

In an early day notion in the British Parliament last week, the MP’s said the Jaguar XJ Diesel 2.7 is capable of running 1000 miles on a single tank of fuel with an average consumption of 53.5 miles per gallon (~18 kms/litre). The notion also highlights Jaguar and Land Rover’s commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption through high tech modern diesel engine technology and usage of lightweight components such as Aluminium in vehicle architecture. It also urges the government to take “full account of the environmental advances and the reduced carbon footprint of products of UK-based car makers when taking decisions on Ministerial Cars”.

British Finance Minister Alistair Darling told media that he was aware of the investment put into Jaguar Land Rover by Tata Motors but refused to back the campaign for Jaguars.

“I think the main thing is to encourage all manufacturers whether here or anywhere else to manufacture cars which are as efficient as possible, both for economic and environmental reasons,” Darling said.

Now how about a notion in the Indian parliament, JLR aferall are part british and part indian now!