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| Richmond Green: Residents of a London suburb will soon pay annual parking fees based on how much carbon dioxide their cars
emit. Matt Dunham/AP |
As British taxes target gas guzzlers, sales of greener cars double
Driving a big car in London could set you back $10,000.
from the August 10, 2007 edition
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The de Purys find themselves at the sharp end of a nascent "buy green" movement in British motoring. Manufacturers say they are struggling in some places to meet demand. Local dealers like Roger Hart say business is booming. At the north London dealership where he heads up Toyota Prius sales, interest in the low-emission hybrid is booming.
"We [sold] 360 cars in March, and 190 were Priuses," says Mr. Hart. "Interest has grown enormously because of the congestion charge and now also because of things like Westminster not charging for residents parking.
"It used to only be an older type of customer, but now it's every age group," he adds.
Gentle prodding from government may enhance the trend toward buying green wheels in the future. With some 33 million cars, Britain has more vehicles than America's most populous state, California, but is barely half its size. Transport accounts for around one quarter of total British CO2 emissions, and the government is trying to style itself as a global leader in the newly declared war on carbon.
So Britain's transport department last week launched a campaign to try and encourage more consumers to buy green and drive cars in a more environmentally friendly way. It now has a website – www.dft.gov.uk/actonco2 – that ranks cars in order of pollution.
"Buying an environmentally friendly car is a win-win," says one department official. "There's a climate change issue which you are helping, and it also means it's more fuel efficient, so you save money on the tax and on the fuel costs."
But some feel the rush to penalize big polluters is unfair. London's congestion charge, for example, was introduced to cut congestion, not emissions. Critics say congestion has begun to rise again.
"Our concern is that if you lose the goal of reducing congestion, you can then question whether those paying their hard-earned wages are getting value for money," says Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, a motoring charitable association.
He adds that low-mileage city dwellers like Londoners do not change cars that often. The sudden changes do not give them a chance to conform.
"The problem with the London scheme and the various local authorities that have introduced punitive taxes for residents parking, is that it doesn't give a lead time for people to change their behavior," Mr. King argues.
SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan said his organization would oppose Livingstone's proposals. "A family whose car emits one g/km more than their neighbor's could end up paying thousands of pounds more a year," he said. "That can't be right."
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