It was not so many years ago, that marketing men and women had very little time for any kind of environmental message. However, now that green issues have a big influence on buying habits, marketers have gone into overdrive looking for the latest environmentally friendly angle.

In the automotive world green sub-brands is now the big new idea, where a carmaker brands its lower emission vehicles under a new banner. Ford for example has it Econetic Focus and Volkswagen has recently created green arms for VW, Seat and Skoda.

Volvo is the latest carmaker to get in on the act, launching its DRIVe range at the Paris Motor Show. This will feature sub-120 g/km diesel variants of the C30 Sports Coupe, S40 saloon and V50 Sportswagon, which will be available from early next year. Volvo believes that the DRIVe range will show that environmentally friendly cars can also be sports or family oriented. President and CEO Fredrik Arp says, "We wanted to demonstrate that low CO2 ratings are not solely the preserve of small diesel cars."