Despite Goverment efforts and high gas prices, Britons are buying more polluting cars
Although other sources state that Britons are buying smaller and more efficient cars during this year, used car hypermarket chain Carcraft announced that they sold more used dirtier cars in 2007 than ever, despite the higher vehicle duty (tax) and the higher cost of gasoline.
According to Carcraft sales figures, cars with engines over 2-liters made up 11.5 percent of sales in the first ten months of 2007, compared to 9.5 percent in 2006. Motorists who buy the most polluting cars tend to be male and aged between 51 and 65 years old. Barry Nightingale, managing director at Carcraft said: "The figures are surprising given the increased running costs of larger vehicles, but clearly drivers of prestige cars aren't being put off. In fact quite the opposite appears to be the case." Carcraft displays each car's CO2 production figures in the showroom, as well as the tax band (from A to G).
[Source: Carcraft]
BRITISH DRIVERS IGNORE GREEN PRESSURES
Demand for larger cars has reached record levels at Carcraft
British motorists appear to be ignoring attempts to force them into smaller, greener cars with demand for larger cars reaching record levels in 2007.
Figures released by used car hypermarket chain Carcraft, show that sales of cars with engines of 2000cc and above increased last year despite the introduction of higher vehicle duty and the increasing cost of petrol.
Car buyers opting for larger vehicles made up 11.5% of all sales in the first ten months of 2007, compared to 9.5% in 2006. This is the first time that larger cars have represented more than one in ten used cars sold in the UK.
Older, male drivers are leading this trend. Over three-quarters (79%) of drivers buying cars over 3000cc were male and a quarter (26%) were men aged between 51 and 65 years old.
Barry Nightingale, managing director at Carcraft says: "The figures are surprising given the increased running costs of larger vehicles, but clearly drivers of prestige cars aren't being put off. In fact quite the opposite appears to be the case.
"To ensure that used car buyers are aware of a car's potential impact on the environment, we display CO2 emissions in grams per kilometre on all 8000 cars in Carcraft stock. We also grade our vehicles from 'A' for the lowest emissions through to 'G' for the highest to make it easier for customers to choose the right car for them."
The research from Carcraft looked at a representative sample of 50,000 sales out of its total car sales nationwide, from the first ten months of 2006 and 2007.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike 7:08PM (3/18/2008)
Isn't this the typical social-economic model: Working class people can't afford to be green. Larger used cars are now cheaper. Still, with the price of fuel, these cars may not get that many miles.
Finally, the media still treats "global warming" as a "debate" and not a fact. These buyers may not know just how bad things are going to get.
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GoodCheer 9:24PM (3/18/2008)
It's not clear to me that an increase in used sales equates to an increase in their popularity. Couldn't you just as easily say that X many more people are SELLING their bigger vehicles? It has to come down to trends in the prices in the used car market.
That being said:
Mike (#1) I'll have to disagree. While there are some expensive fuel-saving technologies out there (hybrids and diesel), and some VERY expensive VERY clean vehicles in the pipelines (Tesla), you can still buy a 5-door, 5-seat Honda Fit for ~$13,600 that gets almost as good mileage as anything else on the road. It has always been the case that you can be green by being cheap. I'd say EVs are the first departure from that model.
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steven 9:47PM (3/18/2008)
It seems some people don't see the possibility that other people don't want tiny little gas sippers, not because they sip gas, but because they don't provide the comfort and features that some people want. This could also be the same reason that folks will by BMW's oil burners and other "big" cars. It is not always about the ablity of the gas savings to payoff the extra cost of the assoicated technology. Complain all you want and call them all the names you want, but there are some folks that are never buy a Toyota Prius or Honda Fit and it is not just the Hummer owners that feel this way.
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Philip Hughes 7:27AM (3/19/2008)
Counting cars >2000 cc is a very simple, and quite daft, way of looking at fuel economy and CO2.
Some cars > 2 litres actually have quite good fuel economy, e.g. Honda Civic 2.2 diesel: 135 g/km CO2; 55.4 imperial mpg.
Furthermore, the profile of the driver should be considered. What is worse: a mature person doing 5,000 miles per year in a 2 litre petrol car, or a young'un racking up 20,000 miles in a super efficient BMW diesel?
I expect the UK compares very well, with only 10% of cars > 2 litres, with some other countries. Imagine the difference if the US came close to this statistic...
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GoodCheer 11:31AM (3/19/2008)
steven (#3). I understand that some people want big cars, I was simply trying to address the question of "being able to afford efficiency".
Many people want big houses that are more expensive to heat/cool/light, many people want big washing machines that are more expensive to operate, many people want a vehicle that makes them -feel- safe and can carry piles of friends and junk. That's all fine, but there is a three-legged trade-off between Capability, Low-Price, and Efficiency. You (in many cases) get to pick two of those three. If you choose the first two, it's not that you are priced out of efficiency any more than you were priced out of capability... you just made a choice.
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Wildgoosechase73 6:46PM (3/19/2008)
It really comes down to the wallet, I will buy the most car I can get for the money. If the choice is between a midsized used car and a new subcompact for the same money, I'm getting the used car. When virtually all cars are hybrids, I will have to buy a used car, I won't qualify for financing for a $35k Volt or even a Prius. Consider that I can buy a house in a few states for the cost of a Volt.
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