Driven - a review of the passenger car market

Our new report, Driven, takes a wide-ranging review of the passenger car market over the past four decades. It shows that many of us are making poor choices, both economically and environmentally when it comes to buying new cars - despite good incentives to choose low CO₂ vehicles and a wider range of vehicle models available. In the UK, the road transport sector produces around a quarter of CO₂ emissions, with nearly 60 per cent coming from passenger cars. While emissions from most sectors have been decreasing, transport emissions have increased significantly since the 1970s.

Since 1970, sales of vehicles in the UK have risen from one million to more than 2.4 million per year, with people keeping their cars for between three and five years before replacing them. The report finds that while in most consumer markets, products become more efficient and smaller as they evolve over time, this has not happened with cars. In fact, the opposite is true: cars are now larger, more powerful and heavier than they have ever been. Studies show that vehicle weight has increased by between 30 and 40 per cent since the 1970s.The report also considers "smarter driving" and finds that drivers can save 15 per cent on running costs if they follow efficient driving techniques. And the Energy Saving Trust calculates that if every driver in the UK drove their cars smarter, motorists could save nearly £6 billion per year in fuel costs.

Cars are now larger, more powerful and heavier than they have ever been.

Our recent research shows that nearly three-quarters of UK drivers (74 per cent) do not know how much carbon dioxide their car emits. Yet when buying a car nine in ten people (89 per cent) want environmental features brought to their attention. Even though car manufacturers are now starting to place CO₂ information more prominently in their advertising, this is only helpful up to a certain point. For many years, manufacturers have marketed the higher-carbon vehicles within a vehicle range as better quality, more expensive, faster and even more desirable, influencing consumers to make irrational choices with regard to fuel and running costs. Dealers are making inroads by displaying information on the cost implications of choosing greener cars more prominently. However, more still needs to be done to help educate drivers earlier on in the decision making process. It is difficult for consumers to understand the meaning of CO₂ information without comparison to other vehicles in their class. We hope Consumer transport advice being provided through our network of advice centres can help consumers make those informed choices.

If you'd like advice on which cars to buy and how to drive them in an eco-friendly manner then please call 0800 512 012.

Further links:

Read our smarter driving tips

Find out how to identify the greenest car in a vehicle range.

Read the full Driven report