A leading motor industry body has insisted that car manufacturers and retailers are working hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in the wake of new road tax legislation.

Christopher Macgowan, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited (SMMT), said there was a concerted effort being made to tackle emissions throughout the industry.

"There are 850,000 people working in the UK motor industry and we are all concerned about the impact our industry has on the environment," he said.

SMMT pointed out that heavy investment in clean technology meant that, despite an increase of 25 per cent in the number of cars on the road, total carbon emissions remained steady between 1993 and 2003.

The total number of cars on the road increased from 24 million to 30 million in those ten years, but emissions stayed the same at 19.8 million tonnes of carbon, according to Department for Transport statistics.

SMMT also noted that there are far more new cars in lower VED tax bands than there were in the past. There are now four and a half times more new cars in the three lowest bands than in 1997.

Mr Macgowan concluded: "We recognise that we are part of the problem and also the solution. This is why we have invested so heavily in research and development of new technologies that have helped us to create cleaner vehicles."


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