VOLVO is taking the credit for triggering a review of the congestion charging scheme in London.
The Swedish car firm has been calling for a change in the regulations which it claimed were out of date.
Under the current rules, drivers of alternative fuel and hybrid cars are exempt from the charge.
However, Volvo claims many modern conventionally engined cars – including it’s own Green Car of the Year S40 DRIVe saloon – emit less CO2 than most hybrids.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has now decided to launch a consultation on the exemption for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles.
Under the new Greener Vehicle Discount proposal for London, any cars registered after January 1 next year that emit less than 100g/km of CO2 and meet the Euro V standard for air quality will be exempt.
In addition, and as a way of encouraging the uptake of electric cars, the same exemption will apply to full battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
Last June Volvo launched its Emission Equality Congestion Charge campaign and wrote to Boris Johnson questioning what place an emissions discount had in a congestion charge and called for fairness in any scheme so that it didn't bias one particular technology over another.
Peter Rask, Volvo Car UK's managing director, said: "When we started the Emission Equality campaign, it was clear to us that the discounts offered to hybrid and alternative fuel cars were out of date and unfair to the many thousands of motorists who'd decided to take a different technical route to achieving a lower level of emissions.
“On behalf of all manufacturers of conventionally-powered low emission cars, all we asked The Mayor for was a level playing field. I'm very pleased that this consultation has been launched.”