CO2 Rules Kill Eurozone's SUV Market
Several European countries are introducing severe taxes and penalties against vehicles with high CO2 emissions (read: SUVs). Auto Motor und Sport reports that Porsche Cayenne S buyers in the Netherlands will have to pay a luxury tax of about €38k at purchase. Finland's surcharge plans are relatively moderate at €26k, as are France's €10k– especially when you compare them to Norway's penalty of 54 friggin' thousand Euros. That means the Cayenne S is effectively twice as expensive in Norway as in Germany. The UK's €23.7k surcharge for Porsche's turbotractor is nothing to sneeze at, either. France also plans to introduce a yearly CO2 tax which, for the Cayenne, will amount to €3k; Austria is following suit with €5k per year. According to CSM Worldwide (a consultancy), the market for SUVs is collapsing in several European countries. This year, sales of large SUVs were down 46 percent in France and down 40 percent in Spain. It looks like Porsche has a bit more legal action in store; merely going to court against London's road-pricing autocrats won't cut the mustard. Perhaps Porsche was smart to buy those VW shares after all.
More by Martin Schwoerer
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Sounds like a good idea to me. Tax SUVs more, people less.
@ Brendon from Canada : Yep we already have a usage tax here... it is called the 80% or so on gasoline! This is basically a carbon tax that is already imposed. The current so called CO2 tax is a carrot or whip at purchase. What is not necessary is a tax, say on a large vehicle, lightly used, but taxed every year the same as one used more often...
Completely ridiculous. The joys of socialism...
Taxes on cars have always been insanely high in The Netherlands...this just comes on top of that. Apart from the fact that I'm completely against these heavy taxes though; CO2 isn't a pollutant, but the amount of CO2 a car emmits per mile/kilometer/whatever is directly related to the amount of fuel it burns...so as a measure of fuel efficiency it's actually ok. Once again though, I don't see how consuming more fuel is a legitimate reason to be taxed heavier twice (when buying a car AND with high taxes on fuel) in this rediculous fashion. Just one more way of stealing money from those who work hard to get a good income, and consequently most likely spend it on dumb uncontrolled projects.