The mayor of london, Ken Livingstone, wants to impose the £8 congestion tax on drivers of the new Lexus 4X4 GS 450h hybrid. Despite being a hybrid, when running in all gas mode, the Lexus gets less than 30mpg around town and is in band F for the road tax, the highest rating reserved for the most polluting vehicles.
While the Lexus itself isn't much of a worry as a luxury vehicle with a very high price tag, there are very few to go around. But Ford and Land rover are both developing 4x4s that would also be exempt for being hybrids.
The congestion tax is imposed on all cars that drive in and around London. It is intended to cut down on pollution and traffic within the city limits.
There are only three hybrid models available in the UK, including the Prius.
Read the controversy over the Lexus hybrid exemption at the London Times online. I saw this story first at autoblog.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
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