For the first time in almost 100 years it will soon be possible for British
motorists to drive a car without paying any road tax. A new generation of
super efficient vehicles is promising carbon dioxide emissions of less than
100g/km, putting them into tax band A and making them the first new models
to be exempt from duty since road tax was introduced in 1910.
Where manufacturers once competed to produce the fastest, most powerful, most
luxurious motors, there is now a battlefront opening up between companies
vying to make their cars the most miserly. And these low-emission cars,
which can do more than 70mpg and travel in excess of 700 miles on a single
tank, are not clever electric hybrids but instead use refined engine
technology to squeeze the most out of conventional diesel.
Volkswagen will be the first to launch a zero tax car. The German company has
just started taking orders for its diesel-engined Polo BlueMotion 1, which
will arrive in UK showrooms from next month, and emits just 99g/km of CO2.
Smart plans to follow suit with its Fortwo diesel, available in the UK from
early next year and which, at 88g/km of CO2, will have the lowest emissions
of any new car – 16g lower than a petrol-electric Toyota Prius, the current
car of choice for those keen to show off their environmental credentials.
The arrival of the first tax-free cars coincides with the launch later this
week of a £10m government campaign to encourage motorists to buy greener
cars. Branded “Act on CO2 funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), the
campaign will include the launch of a new website that will enable drivers
to search for the cars with the lowest emissions according to their
particular needs.
The Vehicle Certification Agency’s website (www.vca.gov.uk) currently allows
car buyers to search for emissions figures by make and model but it’s a
laborious process and relies on motorists knowing the names of the makes and
models they wish to compare.
Under the new system, devised in conjunction with What Car? magazine, cars
will be split into categories such as supermini, small family car, family
car, people carrier and executive car, and the database will list the least
polluting cars in each category and also be searchable according to
transmission and fuel type (see panel). The web service will be available
from Tuesday at www.dft.gov.uk/actonco2.
“This is valuable extra information for consumers,” said a spokesman for the
DfT last week. “It will make it much easier for them to take environmental
considerations into account.”
There are already indications that consumers are switching to lower-emission
models. Sales of new 4x4s are down 5% on last year, while more fuel
efficient 4x4s, such as the Honda CR-V, have seen sales soar by as much as
28%. Sales of superminis – small cars such as the Vauxhall Corsa, Ford
Fiesta and Mini – are also up by 5.3% on 2006, although there are signs that
sales of the most polluting models are still rising (see panel).
VW hopes to sell 900 Polo BlueMotions in the UK this year, encouraged by
changes to the tax system which mean that from March last year cars emitting
100g/km or less of CO2 are exempted from road tax. The Polo BlueMotion 1
will be the first new car on sale in the UK to limbo under the 100g/km
cut-off for tax band A. The Reva G-Wiz electric car – already on sale – also
pays no road tax, but is classed as a quadracycle and does not have to
conform to the same stringent safety standards as conventional cars. In
recent unofficial crash tests, carried out by Top Gear magazine, it failed
dismally and is an unlikely choice for most car buyers.
The Polo BlueMotion 1 has minimised its CO2 and its fuel consumption with the
help of a five-speed gearbox that has longer ratios for third, fourth and
fifth gears to improve economy. It also features a redesigned front grille
and bumper and a new rear spoiler to reduce aerodynamic drag. The engine is
a 1.4 litre three-cylinder turbodiesel with exhaust gas recirculation to
boost the efficiency of the turbocharger.
Finally, to shave off the final few grams of CO2 BlueMotion 1 drivers will
have to do without air-conditioning (this is available only on the
BlueMotion 2, which has slightly higher emissions of 104g/km, putting it in
tax band B).
The BlueMotion 1’s official emissions figure is 20g/km lower than the
conventional 1.4 litre diesel Polo and 39g/km lower than the entry model 1.2
litre petrol. UK prices will start from £11,995 for the three-door
BlueMotion 1, which will do 74.3mpg in mixed motoring, according to the
official government figures and could, according to VW, travel 720 miles on
one tank of diesel.
Volkswagen plans BlueMotion versions of all its cars, to denote the most
environmentally friendly versions in each model range. A BlueMotion Golf and
Passat will follow later this year. Meanwhile Smart plans to test the water
in the UK by offering the new left-hand-drive Fortwo diesel – which does
have air-con and will do 83mpg in mixed motoring – from early next year. A
right-hand drive model will follow if demand is strong enough, which Smart
is optimistic it will be.
Other car companies are also planning zero tax models. “As engines become more
efficient you will see new cars dip below 100g/km,” says Scott Brownlee at
Toyota UK. “The Toyota Aygo is already very close to it at 109g/km and we
would expect to be able to reduce that further on future models.”
The growing influence of environmental considerations in the showrooms is also
fuelling a new style of car promotion. Manufacturers, buoyed by the success
of the hybrid Prius, rising sales of small cars and government initiatives ,
are increasingly drawing attention to their greener attributes. Saab hassuch
as Act on CO2 recently introduced the slogan “With power comes
responsibility” in advertisements in Sweden for its BioPower models, which
can run on bioethanol as well as petrol; Citroën’s advertisements for its C4
model in the UK focus on its fuel economy; and Audi is now trumpeting the
“progressive performance” of its cars, denoting its use of lightweight
materials and fuel-efficient engines.
“Increasingly manufacturers are going to start to use green credentials as a
competitive advantage,” says Nigel Wonnacott of the Society of Motor
Manufacturers and Traders, “rather than just some [CO2] figures stuck
on the bottom of an ad.”
How emissions tax works
Road tax or vehicle excise duty (VED) is charged annually according to a car’s
emissions, a scheme introduced on March 1, 2001. Cars registered beforeCO2
that date are charged by engine size. There are seven tax bands, A to G.
Cars with emissions of 100g/km or less are in band A; over 225g/km in band
G. New tax rates were introduced last year and for the first time cars in
band A became VED exempt while band G cars were charged at a top rate of
£300 a year. You can check your car’s band at www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk
The cars with zero tax: how they compare in price and performance
VW Polo BlueMotion 1
Fuel economy 74.3mpg
CO2 emissions 99g/km
Top speed 109mph
Acceleration 0-62mph: 12.8sec
Price From £11,995
Road tax Band A: £0.00
Smart Fortwo Diesel
Fuel economy 83mpg
CO2 emissions 88g/km
Top speed 84mph
Acceleration 0-62mph: 19.8sec
Price Approx £8,000
Road tax Band A: £0.00
...But sales of high polluters are still rising
British drivers are buying more green cars but they’re buying more thirsty
ones too. Sales of cars that emit more than 275g/km of CO2, such as the
Aston Martin DB9, Porsche Cayenne and Bentley Continental GT, leapt by 19.2%
in the UK in the first half of this year compared with 2006.
When band G road tax was introduced last year for cars that emit more than
225g/km of CO2, the annual £300 duty was intended to be a deterrent. But
according to figures from www.cleangreencars.co.uk, the move failed to deter
buyers of the most expensive cars. The website’s Jay Nagley says: “Ninety
per cent of cars costing over £40,000 are in band G. The problem is that
currently someone with a 2 litre Renault Espace automatic [234g/km] pays the
same tax as the driver of a Ferrari 430 producing 420g/km.”
Environmental groups are increasingly calling for a band H rate of tax for
cars with emissions over 275g/km. Motoring organisations say that British
drivers are already among the most heavily taxed in the world and should not
be penalised further.
Meanest machines
A new government website, set to be launched on Tuesday, will help car buyers
compare the CO2 emissions of new cars. By keying in the type of car they are
looking for, buyers will be able to find out the most environmentally
friendly cars to match their requirements rather than having to trawl
through manufacturers’ data on individual models. The new website, www.dft.gov.uk/actonco2
, will produce a list of the models with the lowest emissions, whether
you’re looking for an MPV, small city runabout or large family saloon.
Below is a list of cars that top the table for the lowest emissions in their
class:
Supermini
Model Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion 1: see above
Small family car
Model Toyota Prius, petrol-electric hybrid
Fuel 65.7mpg
Price £17,777
CO2 104g/km
Road tax Band B: £35
People carrier
Model Ford Focus C-Max Zetec 1.6 diesel
Fuel 58.9mpg
Price £14,995
CO2 127g/km
Road tax BandC:£115
Large family car
Model Citroën C5 1.6 litre diesel
Fuel 52.3mpg
CO2 139g/km
Price £16,335
Road tax Band C: £115
Executive car
Model BMW 520d SE, 2 litre diesel
Fuel 47.9mpg
Price £27,190
CO2 158g/km
Road tax Band D: £140
