His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has given Saab BioPower the green light, getting behind the wheel of the UK’s first eco-friendly convertible. Well known for his interest in the environment, Prince Charles had a number of questions for Jonathan Nash, the Managing Director of Saab Great Britain, at a meeting which preceded the London to Brighton eco-car rally which will take place tomorrow, on World Environment Day. Prince Charles, who already runs some of his private vehicles on biofuels, had previously expressed an interest in Saab’s innovative BioPower flex-fuel technology, which allows its cars to run on the eco-friendly yet potent fuel source bioethanol E85.

Made from different kinds of plant matter, bioethanol E85 does not significantly raise atmospheric greenhouse gas levels due to the fact that the plants used to produce the fuel absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere during their growing process. Saab is the first, and only, volume car company in the UK to offer an alternative fuel engine in every car in its range, including in the iconic 9-3 Convertible.

With the launch of the Saab 9-3 BioPower range of cars in 2007, Saab became the first volume car company in the UK to offer an alternative fuel engine choice in every model in its line up. Saab currently has three different BioPower engines currently for sale in the UK market, all of which enjoy substantially-reduced fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, whilst delivering significant increases in power when running on bioethanol E85 compared to when running on petrol.