Road tax rise seen as no obstacle to 4x4 sales

Land Rover’s Solihull factory is running at full capacity, churning out big 4x4s as fast as it can to meet record global demand, while in Manchester, the country’s only Hummer H2 dealership reports steady sales of the US sport utility vehicle.

There is no suggestion that sales of big sports utility cars are likely to be affected by the chancellor’s decision on Wednesday to add a meagre £45 to road tax on the least fuel-efficient vehicles, including all the biggest offroaders.

“It will make no difference whatsoever to anyone’s purchasing,” said Stephen Tindale, the director of Greenpeace UK, and who led protesters who chained themselves to Range Rover production lines last year. “They need to ramp the rates up for it to be a good thing.”

But are the big 4x4s really that bad? It is true that average emissions are higher than for most cars. In 2004, SUVs made up 7 per cent of sales but, assuming they were driven an equal distance, would have produced 10 per cent of new car emissions of carbon dioxide.

The petrol version of the Range Rover, the first and biggest British SUV, gets just 13.4 miles per gallon in a city and 25mpg on the motorway.

Sales are also growing, prompting Greenpeace and other groups such as the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s to launch a campaign of leafleting and protests at dealerships in an attempt to make the cars “socially unacceptable”.

“The reason we are particularly campaigning against them is they are a coming trend,” said Mr Tindale. “The Bentleys and Porsches have always been around but 4x4s are growing and we want to nip that in the bud.”

He has some serious celebrity opposition. Big SUVs are the chosen form of transport for Premier League footballers and rap stars, with the 2.5 ton Cadillac Escalade, imported direct from the US, particularly popular.

However, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders believes owners of the cars with the highest emissions, including 4x4s, drive them less than the average car, so emissions are broadly in line with sales at 8 per cent.

And SUVs are far from being the worst cars on the road. Indeed, luxury cars – a category including the BMW 7-Series, Mercedes S-Class and Jaguar XJ – have higher carbon dioxide emissions and lower fuel efficiency than the average 4x4.

Sports cars produce the worst efficiency, with the Ferrari F430’s 490 horsepower V8 engine producing just 10mpg in the city, and 21mpg on the motorway.

The main reason for SUVs becoming a target appears to be class envy: they are a highly visible status symbol and annoy other drivers because of their size.

“I know of countless sports cars which will struggle to get 10 miles per gallon, and no one gives them any flak,” says Mitch Millett, managing director of Bauer Millett, a specialist US car importer. “Yet when you talk about large SUVs everyone gets very worked up.”

The Treasury dismissed suggestions it was targeting the “Chelsea tractor”, as the Range Rover is nicknamed for its popularity among London’s wealthiest drivers.

The tax changes “reward those people who are going to go out and buy cleaner cars”, said an official.

The new top band of tax applies to any car with emissions above 225 grams of carbon dioxide per km, including the Ford Galaxy, the Volvo V70 estate automatic and “sporty” big-engined versions of the Vauxhall Vectra, Fiat Stilo and BMW 1-Series, and most sports cars.

In total just more than 8 per cent of new cars are caught by the band, which takes effect today.

Older cars will remain in the lower band, meaning a driver of a year-old diesel Range Rover pays £170, against £215 for a new one.

“It does seem strange that the incentive is now to buy an older, less efficient, car,” the SMMT said.