LITTLE’S, the Glasgow-based chauffeur firm, has bookended a record financial year by announcing a major investment in its fleet of hybrid vehicles.

The executive travel specialist, known for its burgundy limousines, has declared it will spend £320,000 on eight hybrid vehicles as it strives to reduce the environmental impact of its operations. It is aiming to have switched its entire fleet to either electric or hybrid vehicles by 2022, with more than 50 per cent of its 40 cars in that category already.

The latest vehicle to join the Little’s fleet will be the Mercedes E Class Plug-in Hybrid, which can be driven for 14 miles on its battery alone. Two of the new cars are already in use at Little’s, with a further six due to arrive in the spring.

Managing director Heather Matthews said the investment is being driven by the demands of clients and the company’s desire to improve efficiency and minimise its environmental impact. Ms Matthews, whose father and uncle established Little’s in the 1960s, said: “It’s an important selling point for corporates. More people are looking at the impact of what they do. For us to be able to say we can put your executives into a plug-in hybrid is an important selling point us.”

Ms Matthews added: “We have seen a marked increase in the focus of large corporates on reducing their impact on the environment when it comes to business travel, so it is a natural progression for us to update our fleet to meet the demands of those clients.”

Ms Matthews said environmental impact is also a consideration for companies which stage events in Scotland, noting: “If Scotland has more suppliers who are environmentally-aware, that allows people like the convention bureau to bring more people here. We are very active in that area. It is not just good for us, it is good for Scotland as a destination.”

The investment comes at the end of what Ms Matthews said has been a record year for Little’s, which provides chauffeur services for tourists and corporate clients around Scotland and guests at international sporting events through a network of global partners.

Ms Matthews said the company has been able to capitalise on the continuing weakness

of sterling, which has boosted tourism business at Little’s since the Brexit vote in June 2016, as well as factors such as North American tourists coming to Scotland to trace their ancestry.

She recently returned from a sales mission to Vancouver, which followed trips earlier this year to Toronto and New York aimed at drumming up business in the key North American market.

Ms Matthews also highlighted the demand for executive travel seen by Little’s around the The Open golf championship, which was staged at Carnoustie this year.

“Any time that is in Scotland is makes an enormous difference to us,” said Ms Matthews, who also noted the investment Little’s has made in its sales team.

The recruitment of a business development manager from the luxury hotel sector at the start of the year has had a big impact on sales, she said, adding the international arm has “grown enormously this year.”

Two years ago Little’s announced a major push into the City of London, targeting the corporate market. Asked how that side of the business was performing, Ms Matthews said that while it was still a growth area, it was “slightly slower at the moment”.

She noted: “There is uncertainty among the financial services and corporate market in London. Everything that is going on in Westminster does not make that any easier.

“It is not perhaps as buoyant as we have known in the past, but I am sure everybody in every sector is being affected by this level of uncertainty.”

Asked to provide specific numbers on the firm’s financial performance, Ms Matthews declined. But she said it was on track to lift profit and turnover by 85 per cent and 40% respectively this year.