according to vehicle tax rulings once the VED is set if the vehicle is tuned afterwards there is no requirement to change the VED
So why dont manufactures reduce engine out put and emissions on all their vehicles to reduce the tax band and then once sold the owner can by a tune download ?
Mitsibishi used to do it and Rover with their 75 2.0Cdti where a download would boost it from 115bhp to 130 bhp.

I guess the power that be would soon catch on if all manufacturers did that and simply lower the thresholds At work
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It's all down to type approval and insurance groupings. But you could argue that they are doing this now.

Take the Insignia 2.0 Turbo as an example. I know that Vauxhall/Opel could offer this engine as it is at 260bhp, but offer it at 220bhp. So in effect you could do what you are suggesting.

But when you look at the modern engine set up, emmisions are not always lower with the less powerfull engine.

The Insignia 2.0 CDTi Ecoflex 160BHP is in fact 2g/km less that the 2.0 CDTi 130 Ecoflex. The reason being is that the 160bhp version is not running as hard as the 130bhp version at any given point. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

I could see a couple of reasons why this may not be a good plan at least for the buyer.
1. As soon as you do the tune you should tell your insurance company which will of course immediately up your premiums for having a non-standard motor. Probably wiping any saving on the emissions sevveral times over.
2. If it was a non-LR upgrade, then LR might try and wriggle out of any warranty on engine failures due to the "upgrade" being in place.

Downsized wrote:

I could see a couple of reasons why this may not be a good plan at least for the buyer.
1. As soon as you do the tune you should tell your insurance company which will of course immediately up your premiums for having a non-standard motor. Probably wiping any saving on the emissions sevveral times over.
2. If it was a non-LR upgrade, then LR might try and wriggle out of any warranty on engine failures due to the "upgrade" being in place.

The Rover 75 that oldgeezer refers to; the 115bhp output was forced upon rover by the engine supplier BMW in order to keep their own brand ahead of the pack. If Rover had their way, it would have been 130 from day one and later 150 to help sales.
Having said all that, R75 was a fine car and very reliable, at least the CDti was. Mine did 130k trouble free miles before i sold it and it's still going strong now after 180k.

More than i can say about my FL2 which appears to be 'fragile' in comparison shall i say. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.