COMPANY car drivers are swapping their executive saloons for the giant pick-up trucks favoured by “gangsta rappers” and multimillionaire football players in order to save thousands of pounds in tax a year.

A loophole that limits “light commercial vehicles” such as pick-up trucks to a flat rate charge of £500, even for higher-rate taxpayers, has led to a boom in sales. A saloon car of a similar price would cost a company car driver up to £2,500 a year in tax.

Top-of-the-range models by manufacturers such as Toyota and Mitsubishi sell for the same price as a middle-of-the- range saloon, but are exempt from the emissions tax introduced two years ago.

Manufacturers have responded by producing a new breed of pick-up truck that boasts all the luxuries of an executive car and seats as many people.

Pick-ups are the vehicle of choice for Midwesterners in the United States, who keep their deer rifle in the back. They are also popular in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq where they are known as “technicals” because of the ease with which it is possible to mount a Browning machinegun to the roof of the cab.

The Inland Revenue classes them as “company vans”, which are defined as any vehicle “built primarily to carry goods or other loads” of more than 1,000kg. These are all taxed at £500 per year, regardless of engine size.

Until recently they have been a relative rarity in England away from builders’ yards because of the poor weather. The latest models come with hard and soft tops for the flat-bed rear, which is now more likely to be laden with a picnic set and child’s bicycle than the traditional load of bricks.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said yesterday that sales of flat-bed trucks in Britain had increased significantly over the past two years. Fewer than 4,000 were sold in Britain in 2000, compared with more than 14,000 so far this year.

A spokesman said that the vehicles were exempt from the carbon dioxide emissions tax system. “This has created a loophole in company car tax since April 2002,” he said.

“People are now buying and using pick-up trucks as company cars and this is the main reason why the market has gone up.”

A two-litre Ford Mondeo company car costing £17,000 would land its owner with a £900 annual tax bill. A BMW 325, with a larger 2.5-litre engine, would cost a standard-rate taxpayer around £1,500 per year in tax, with a top-rate taxpayer paying £2,500. The pick-up truck that sells best in Britain is the Mitsubishi L200 Warrior double cab, which costs up to £21,000. It has a 2.5-litre turbo diesel engine, full leather interior, air conditioning, alloy wheels and power steering.

Gabi Whitfield, general manager for press and public affairs at Mitsubishi Motors UK, said sales were increasing by 50 per cent every year.

“When we first launched the L200 range, people thought they wouldn’t take off because they were too American. The market has boomed recently. People are buying these for tax reasons and because they suit their lifestyle,” she said.

Ford has also seen sales of its £17,000 Ford Ranger XLT soar to a record of 4,500 this year. Other popular models are the Toyota Hi-Lux and the Isuzu TF sport. David Beckham favours a 5.4 litre Ford Harley Davidson F150.

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