Step 1 – The UK government ditches Jaguars as ministerial cars for Japanese Toyota Priuses, so they can be seen to be green. Never mind that a Coventry-engineered, Liverpool-made, Dagenham-engined Jaguar X-type diesel is almost certainly greener ‘well-to-wheel’, as well as a good deal more statesman-like. Senior British cabinet members and opposition front benchmen, with a keen eye on eco PR opportunities (bugger British companies and workers) go Japanese hybrid. Numerous British blue-chip companies, following the government’s lead, and keen to prove themselves enviro saints, do the same.
Step 2 – New Vehicle Excise Duty bands penalise large luxury cars, the very vehicles that Britain builds best (Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Land Rover, Range Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin).
Step 3 – Numerous British politicians rant against 4x4s. London’s then-mayor calls 4×4 owners ‘idiots’. Proposals are drawn up to penalise large car owners with higher ‘congestion charge’ fees.
Step 4 – Various councils penalise owners of larger vehicles with swingeing increases in resident parking fees. The cost to park a Range Rover in Richmond-upon-Thames (my local council) increases threefold. Richmond’s council leader follows the lead of Miliband, Cameron (and other Westminster weenies) by buying a Japanese hybrid.
Step 5 – Jaguar Land Rover seeks, and is likely to get, emergency government aid in the form of short-term loans or guarantees.
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