City drivers 'should think twice' before buying SUVs
Drivers in crowded cities should think twice before buying a big SUV, says the head of a motoring organisation.
Steve Gooding, from the RAC Foundation, said: "We should all choose the right vehicle for the right trip to cut the size of our carbon footprint.
"It is right to question if suburban drivers need a car capable of ploughing over rivers, across fields and up steep hills just to pop to the shops."
His comments come as research confirms most SUVs are bought by urban drivers.
It shows that large SUVs - often known as Chelsea tractors - are indeed most prevalent in places such as Chelsea.
They are typically defined by their extreme size, and off-road features such as high ground clearance and four wheel drive.
They often face complaints from other road users about their bulk and their pollution - especially during the school run.
The report from the think-tank New Weather Institute said: "The numbers stand up long-held suspicions that these vehicles ostensibly designed for off-road are actually marketed successfully to urban users where their big size and higher pollution levels are a worse problem."
The report says:
- Three quarters of all SUVs sold in the UK are registered to people living in towns and cities
- The largest SUVs are most popular in three London boroughs - Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Westminster
- One in three new private cars bought in these areas is a large SUV. These boroughs also top the league for popularity of most polluting cars by UK sales volume, all of which are SUVs
- The most likely large SUV to be owned by a city driver is the Lexus NX300
The report says areas where SUV owners dominate are also the places where road space is most scarce, and where the highest proportion of cars are parked on the street. It says many large SUVs are too big for a standard UK parking space.
Andrew Simms, from the New Weather Institute, said: "It turns out that the home of the 'Chelsea tractor' really is Chelsea. One of advertising's biggest manipulations has persuaded urban families that it's perfectly 'normal' to go shopping in a two-tonne truck.
"But the human health and climate damage done by SUVs is huge and needs to be undone. Just as tobacco advertising was successfully ended, it's time to stop promoting polluting SUV's."
The UK Citizens' Assembly on climate change has supported restrictions on SUVs. But motoring organisations said the analysis was too simplistic. Read original full article
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