More motorists to buy greener cars

Two thirds of UK motorists would now buy a car with better green credentials to avoid paying higher road tax according to a survey by Motorpoint, the UK’s leading car supermarket group, highlighting a major turnaround in public opinion as 2007 comes to a close.

Polls earlier this year identified an unwillingness among car buyers to pay extra for CO2-cutting technologies. In March, a study carried out by the AA revealed that four out of five UK drivers put making financial ends meet ahead of environmental concerns in their list of motoring priorities.

Around the same time, the Government-commissioned King Review into low emissions motoring identified a need to 'develop a strong and rapidly-growing market for low-emission cars' as a key priority. The review suggested Government could have a critical part to play in introducing 'carrot and stick' incentives, encouraging more people to start buying environmentally friendly cars and deterring them from buying models with higher emissions.

Since then plans for higher road tax, calls for a £2,000 ‘showroom tax’ and a tripling of the London congestion charge for vehicles with the worst emissions levels are just some of the pressures that have been brought to bear to influence buying decisions.

Commenting on the findings, Motorpoint operations director Paul Winfield said: “A lot of the feedback we get from customers suggests that they are increasingly putting a car’s green credentials higher up their lists of important features and benefits. We already include a windscreen sticker on cars in our showrooms with details of emissions levels. But there can be no doubt after our survey results that punishment by taxation has had a marked effect on driver opinion during 2007.

“Nevertheless, in Britain today there are some 33 million drivers and almost 30 million cars. That means around 11 million drivers are still ready to pay the price for driving the car of their choice however polluting it may be.”

For further information, visit motorpoint.co.uk.