Hybrid cars and carbon offsetting are being made available by car rental broker Holiday Autos.

Prices for a hybrid car start at £23 a day, based on a seven-day rental of a Ford Focus in France.

The vehicles are also available in the UK, Ireland, France and Sweden.

They can be bio-ethanol, or combine an electrical motor and a petrol engine. Hybrid cars available include the Toyota Prius, Ford Focus, Ford Focus C-Max, Volvo S40, Volvo V50 and Saab 9-5.

The company's 'carbonwise' offsetting scheme will be available from next month with costs starting at 14p per 100 miles for a hybrid Ford Focus. To offset a petrol hire car it costs 18p per 100 miles, based on the hiring a petrol Focus.

Customers will be given the option to offset their driving emissions and are taken through to a carbon calculator to estimate the emissions from their trip.

The carbonwise scheme has been extended to Holiday Autos from its parent company lastminute.com. The online travel and leisure retailer launched carbonwise 12 months ago for customers to offset flight emissions.

More than 15% of customers are offsetting their travel, according to the company. 

Holiday Autos UK managing director Stuart Nassos said: "Seven out of ten of the cars we hire are already the most fuel-efficient models, so the launch of hybrid cars and carbonwise are further extensions to our commitment to the environment."

by Phil Davies