Drivers of luxury 4x4s and other gas guzzlers are to be shamed into buying less polluting vehicles under new plans by the Chancellor.
In a shakeup of car taxation, buyers of VED band G cars will be landed with a new first year 'registration' charge of £950, before it reverts to £400. Other cars would be charged on a sliding scale. Cars below the threshold of 130 gm CO2/km will not be charged a registration tax. 6 new VED tax bands will be introduced as well.
Also welcome is a new report from Professor Julia King. She has called for showrooms to display the 'lifetime' cost of a vehicle. The study believes consumers could be persuaded to buy cleaner cars if they are told how much a 4x4 could cost them.
Example: A 4.4 liter petrol Range Rover, driven 12,000 miles a year for 10 years would cost more than £35,000 in petrol and vehicle excise duty, while a diesel Peugeot 307 would cost only £11,000.
There are also moves to introduce a colour coded tax disc system to highlight the most polluting vehicles.
According to the Times, the Government should do more to encourage manufacturers to develop new models. Sue Robinson of the Retail Motor Industry Federation said, "Consumers need to be given a proper choice, and manufacturers and vehicle dealers need to be able to give it to them. "
