Motoring Issues: 2007

Road-pricing petition closes

12 October 2007 by Jack Carfrae

The UK’s controversial debate over pay-as-you-drive road tolls reaches a milestone today with the closure of a popular online protest. Nearly 1.7 million aggrieved motorists have signed the petition...

GM’s next eco-concept car

12 October 2007 by Ben Oliver

General Motors will unveil a European concept car built on its radical new E-Flex platform at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The concept will feature radical styling, with a diesel engine acting as a generator for the concept’s electric motor. And General Motors is believed to be collaborating with urban electric scooter manufacturer Segway; the unnamed concept may be able to carry...

Eco cars named and shamed

26 September 2007 by Tim Pollard

A new report today exposes the real green cars - and there's not a hybrid in sight in the top 10, according to researchers at Cardiff University. Conventionally engined superminis dominate the top...

Ford Focus ECOnetic

28 August 2007 by Ben Barry

Car manufacturers will be tripping over themselves to look leaner and greener at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Today Ford throws its hat into the ring with the Focus ECOnetic. Usually when a car...

Cameras to snoop on UK motorists

18 July 2007 by George Barrow

The British are already the most watched nation on Earth, with some 4.2 million CCTV cameras monitoring our every move. Now it looks as though the same cameras could be used to log journey...

Porsche hits out on CO2

22 June 2007 by Phil McNamara

Porsche's next Cayenne and Panamera saloon will get petrol-electric hybrid engines, CAR Online can confirm, as the firm strives to reduce CO2 emissions. The sports car maker has gone on the attack,...

BMW Hydrogen 7-series

04 June 2007 by Ben Whitworth

BMW is upping its green credentials with the delivery of a fleet of hydrogen-powered 7-series that will go on chauffeur duty throughout the UK this summer. The eight production-ready Hydrogen 7 luxo-barges are produced on the same production line as the standard 7-series in Munich and meet all current safety and crash regulations. They form part of a 100-strong fleet...

Government CO2 cock-up

03 June 2007 by Richard Yarrow

Britain’s new eco-motoring scheme postponed Plans to help Britain’s drivers choose the greenest car for their budget have been thrown into chaos, CAR Online can reveal. The launch of a new Government...

Emissions crackdown confirmed

03 June 2007 by Tim Pollard

The European Commission today confirmed plans to force car makers to cut tailpipe emissions by 18 percent over the next five years. As exclusively predicted by CAR Online last month, the EC is...

Budget hits gas-guzzlers

03 June 2007 by Ben Pulman

Gordon Brown’s 2007 budget didn’t throw up too many surprises; after all, we expected him to take more money out of the motorist’s pocket. Below are the changes due over the next three years. Fuel Duty An increase of 2p per litre this year, 2p in 2008-09, and 1.84p in 2009-10. Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) • Group B (101-120g/km) reduced from £40...

Insurance shake-up

02 March 2007 by Richard Yarrow

4x4 drivers to pay more for insurance The biggest shake-up in Britain’s car insurance for 15 years is to take place – and 4x4 drivers are facing policy price hikes. That’s because for the first time a...

Compulsory emissions laws leaked to CAR Online

23 January 2007 by Tim Pollard

Every performance car, MPV and large saloon on sale today is under threat from proposed legislation limiting CO2 emissions to an average of 120g/km by 2012, CAR Online has learned. EU environment...

Land Rover’s green blitz

30 July 2006 by Phil McNamara

Land Rover is slapping a green tax on sales of its 4x4s, which will build up millions to be invested in global ecological schemes like wind farms and Indian cooking stoves that use renewable...