When Is Big Too Big? "Europeans declare war on the SUV"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16127619/site/newsweek/

Dec. 18, 2006 issue - Ken Livingstone is no friend to the motorcar. London's mayor has spurned his official limo and imposed a whopping charge on drivers entering the city center. But he reserves his particular scorn for the bugaboo of the greens, the SUV. Last month he proposed a £25 charge—three times today's levy—on every gas guzzler entering the city's "congestion zone." So what if owners of the hulking "Chelsea tractors" squeal in protest? Why shouldn't they pay a penalty, says Livingstone, for choosing to buy "one of the most polluting vehicles" in the world?

Think of it as Europe's new "hate affair" with allegedly planet-hostile super-cars. A recent British poll found that 70 percent favor higher taxes on SUVs. A flurry of prohibitions, levies and initiatives from Spain to Switzerland testifies to a similar antipathy elsewhere. Says Sian Berry of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s in London: "SUVs are emblematic of how our car culture has moved in the wrong direction."

Popular sentiment may be turning against the giant automobile, but so far it's not reflected in the numbers. Annual sales have almost quadrupled since the early '90s, topping 1 million, or 7 percent of the total car market in 2005. "It's been phenomenal," says Peter Schmidt of the British consultancy Automotive Industry Data. "In virtually every single European country, SUV sales have been rising at double-digit rates." Small wonder that environmental activists increasingly equate SUVs with the devil. It's hard to square that dramatic sales record with Europe's pledge to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012.

Still, automakers should be worried. The latest sales figures from Britain—Europe's largest SUV market—show demand down 6 percent over the past year. Soaring petrol prices offer some explanation, but the true cause has more to do with the vehicle's questionable image in an age of deepening eco-anxiety. "Once, owners were proud to turn up at the golf club in a five-liter V-8 machine," says Schmidt. No more. "I think we will see a steep decline across Europe."

they also destroy the roadways as well as block the sight of other drivers.

Thought this was a whole different topic. Just came from the circumcision thread. :evilgrin:

SUV's are just too big. When I was stationed in England the Brits called Big American cars "yank tanks"
They have eeensy teensy roads over there, lots of tight curves. I'll bet they have more than their share of accidents.

and could count on two hands The SUVs I saw the whole time I was there. The predominant vehicles were bikes and smartcars. They are so far ahead of us.

Commercials for SUVs with big red Xmas bows. How tacky! :puke: