Paris SUV vote sets up Europe’s battle over large cars

When Parisians vote next Sunday on whether to punish SUV owners with higher parking fees, the French capital’s leaders hope the outcome will not only inspire cities across Europe to follow suit if the referendum goes their way; they want to send a signal to the companies that make them too. 

“Our aim is to send a very strong message to carmakers — they shouldn’t be making these types of cars, they should be completely banned,” said David Belliard, one of the deputy mayors of Paris who is in charge of transport.

A green party politician in Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo’s governing coalition, Belliard instigated just such a ban last year of e-scooter operators on the city’s streets with a similar referendum.

While Paris has brought in some of the toughest car restrictions in Europe over recent years, this time it did not have the legal means to ban the supersized vehicles from the roads. 

Instead, Parisians are voting on raising parking costs, which could result in rates tripling to as much as €18 an hour in parts of the city centre. The vote comes amid a growing debate about the role of cars in cities that risks becoming a problem for manufacturers.

That tension has focused on the 4x4s or sports utility vehicles imagined for rough terrain and once confined to farmers and park rangers, which are now taking over European roads.

Sales in 28 European countries, including the UK, rose from one in five cars in 2014 to more than half last year, according to figures from Jato Dynamics, a data group. In some countries, the takeover has been striking: in Croatia, sales rose from 12 per cent of the total to almost 60 per cent in a decade.

Environmental groups as well as politicians such as Belliard argue that SUVs combine several problems in cities. 

The fuel-hungry cars emit more air pollution and carbon emissions than regular vehicles, take up more road space and pose a higher risk to pedestrians and cyclists in crashes. Even the electric models that are succeeding today’s combustion engine versions are decried as unnecessarily big and more polluting due to their larger batteries.

Carmakers, for whom SUVs are increasing profit pools commanding bigger margins than smaller cars, say this is what consumers want.

“I have a deep respect for the lifestyle of my customers,” said Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, the manufacturer of France’s Peugeot and Citroën as well as Jeep of the US, when asked about the Paris push.

Modern SUVs, which are better engineered than older models, have now largely pushed the minivans some families used to buy out of the market.

“Customers like SUVs, because of the higher driving positions, and they like the versatility that it offers,” said Mike Hawes, head of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which represents the UK car industry.

Paris would not be the first city to bring in harsher SUV fees. France’s third-biggest city Lyon has already introduced higher charges.

Several London boroughs, including Greenwich, Lambeth and the City of London, have parking based on the vehicles’ tax band that ensures higher charges for larger or more emitting models, and Tübingen in Germany and parts of Montreal in Canada all have weight-based parking charges.

But the French capital is seen as something of a trendsetter on mobility. It has rapidly deployed cycle highways since the pandemic, introduced low emission zones, pedestrianised big traffic arteries and plans to ban cars that use diesel from 2025.

“What happens in Paris won’t stay in Paris,” warned Jens Müller, deputy director of the Clean Cities Campaign at Transport & Environment, an environmental lobby group. He added it would set a “strong signal for others to follow.”

The higher fees would vary by arrondissement and not apply to Parisians who have parking permits in their immediate vicinity. But owners of cars weighing over 1.6 tonnes would be hit by varying degrees if they leave their neighbourhoods.

Voter turnout might end up being small. But polling so far has shown roughly 60 per cent of Parisians are in favour of the higher fees.

Part of what has incensed anti-SUV campaigners is the promotion around the vehicles. 

“They’re presented to us in ads in the cinema, in magazines, with this idea of a promise of freedom,” said Belliard. However, consumers are becoming more aware of the gap between image and reality, and “their image is worsening,” he added. “I hope that will be reflected at the ballot box.”

Late last year, the UK advertising regulator ruled that a Toyota advert that showed Hilux pick-up trucks swarming across a riverbed could be banned, saying it showed “no regard for the environmental impact of such driving”.

Campaigners argue that consumers have been swindled into thinking they need a two-tonne machine to go shopping or do the school drop-off.

There is also a size issue, with SUVs getting bigger by an average of 1cm every two years, according to Transport & Environment. EU rules currently permit SUVs and other cars to be as wide as a bus. 

If anything, however, carmakers are doubling down. In the US, Chrysler was the first company to phase out traditional cars from its brands, making only SUVs, “crossovers” and pick-up trucks. Ford and General Motors have since both followed suit. 

In Europe, carmakers are making even non-SUV cars that emulate their high-riding cousins: VW raised the driving height of the latest Golf car, while Ford phased out the small Fiesta but kept selling the Puma, a similar version that is more elevated. 

Defenders of the cars say SUVs are one of the biggest segments for electric innovation. 

The top-selling car in the world last year was the electric Tesla Model Y smaller SUV, which overtook Toyota’s RAV4, another compact SUV.

“In my opinion this upcoming penalisation is more political than factual,” says Felipe Munoz, an analyst at data group Jato Dynamics. “When we talk about emissions, the biggest progress in terms of reduction has come from the SUV segment, as it is the one that has received more electric models over the last years.”

For car executives, the outcome of the Paris vote may not be an immediate concern in terms of losing sales momentum, although it is another signal that political attitudes are moving fast on cars, heaping uncertainty on their longer-term plans.

Tavares at Stellantis struck a defiant tone, showing that SUVs were not about to disappear.

“If France does not want SUVs, fine,” Tavares said, adding there were other spacious but smaller car models that consumers could opt for too. “I will sell sedans and hatchbacks to them, and SUVs to other markets.”