Paris To Ban SUVs?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The AP [via The Freep] reports:

Denis Baupin, an environmental official in the mayor’s office, said Wednesday that sport utility vehicles and old diesel cars are likely to be targeted in upcoming test restrictions.

To any Parisian who drives an SUV, Baupin’s advice is: “Sell it and buy a vehicle that’s compatible with city life.

“I’m sorry, but having a sport utility vehicle in a city makes no sense,”

Five French cities are eying bans on inefficient classes of automobiles as they become “ZAPA”s, or Priority Zones for Action against Air Pollution. These areas include Paris, Lyon, Grenoble and Aix-en-Provence. France’s cities are some of the most congested and polluted in Europe, and older diesels as well as 4×4 vehicles are blamed for a disproportionate contribution to the problem. We simply hope that vintage Mustangs don’t get caught up in the Parisian guzzler ban.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Deaks2 Deaks2 on Dec 28, 2010

    They were discussing this plan back when I lived in Paris in 2003-04. We'll see if it ever comes into force, small SUV/CUVs are everywhere in Paris.

  • Paul W Paul W on Dec 28, 2010

    I've heard discussion like this before and they usually come to a halt when it's time to define what constitutes a SUV. Or when it's discovered that one or more of the politicians most verbose about a ban drive SUVs themselves.

  • Windswords Windswords on Dec 28, 2010

    The French Revolution's rallying cry was "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" Except when it comes to SUV's that is.

  • Rpol35 Rpol35 on Dec 28, 2010

    Just typical lipstick on a pig political manuvering. I've been to Paris many times and can tell you a typical SUV, as we know them in the U.S., is a rare sight there; banning them will do nothing other than give some politician re-election fodder. Paris' problem is traffic; endless, endless, streams of traffic.

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