Ban New Cars Below 35mpg?!

October 30th, 2009 |

Ban new cars which do less than 35 miles to the gallon to help tackle climate change. That was the proposal made by a former chairman of Shell. car

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart urged the move as an alternative to higher fuel taxes, which he said would be unfair on rural drivers and poorer people who needed their cars.

The auto industry, meanwhile, find the proposal bizarre. It could result in the banning of more than one car in three models. Iconic cars such as Beetle, Citroen C4 and Peugeot 307, might also be affected by the ruthless proposal. This is because the diesel-engined cars have slashed fuel consumption than their petrol counterparts.

United Kingdom’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said Sir Mark‘s call was not helpful. “This is a really bizarre proposal. If we are trying to reduce emissions, it should not be confused by using other measurements. Our priority is to reduce, which will have the knock-on effect of improving engine efficiencies,“ the society’s spokesperson said.

The Department for Transport agreed that was a better target. A spokeswoman of the department said the government‘s strategy to make transport greener included negotiating to set compulsory long-term targets to cut emissions from new cars. “Emissions and miles per gallon are both related, but emissions are a more direct indicator of environmental performance, used across Europe and wider. Therefore, that is what we work with,“ she stressed.