While Paris has applied a tripled parking fee for SUVs since Tuesday, a new report from the WWF points out the massive distribution of these models on the roads. In a “barometer of the evolution of SUVs in France” published this Wednesday, October 2, the association, with the support of UFC Que Choisir, criticizes the success of these models in recent years.
Four years after the publication of a first report that denounced this SUV trend in a context of environmental awareness, this document “formulates an even more alarming observation, supported by new data.”
“Compared to conventional models, an SUV weighs on average 20% more (i.e. 220 kg), requires a 30% more powerful engine and emits an average of more than 20% CO2 than another non-SUV model before.” of the arrival of hybrid models,” says the WWF.
The heaviest and therefore most polluting vehicles
Following this observation, the association highlights the strong increase in SUV sales in France in recent years: “In 2020, the share of SUV sales had multiplied by seven since 2008. Between 2008 and 2023, it multiplied by 10, going from 5% to 49% of new car sales today.
“This explosion in sales is to the detriment of other bodies, such as sedans, city cars or even minivans, which have since disappeared from manufacturers’ sales catalogues.”
According to the association, “the first victims are minivans, which represented close to 20% of sales in the 2000s and which have since been progressively eliminated”, evoking “the direct result of a strategy by manufacturers, which have replaced Little by little, minivans are replaced by SUVs in their catalogues.
The chicken and egg problem
The answer is often formulated by car manufacturers: it is the customers, the buyers of new cars, who have begun to move away from minivans and give in to the SUV trend. And it is in response to this enthusiasm that most brands have adapted their catalogue.
If we take the example of Renault, sales of the old Scénic, launched in 2016, began to fall compared to SUVs, still few in its range. This pushed the brand to offer a new Scénic closer to the SUV format, but still with a family vehicle vocation, like the Espace, and many other models of different sizes, today with the Captur, the Symbioz, the Arkana, the Austral and the Rafale.
In a way, the problem of the chicken and the egg: for some it is the consumers who are at the origin of this trend by switching to this body format with a more attractive design, while for others it is the manufacturers who voluntarily promoted these models. the market.
Renault, Peugeot and Dacia in the pillory
As expected, it is the main sellers of new cars that are highlighted in this report. Renault, Peugeot and Dacia are thus “among the main culprits of the wave of SUVs that has hit France over the last fifteen years”, with three million units sold in this period.
The WWF emphasizes that if “French manufacturers are an integral part of the problem, they are the first to be able to get out of it, since they still have industrial bases to produce lighter, cheaper and less polluting cars.”
The barometer cites as a good example to follow the new Renault 5, a car measuring less than four meters, 100% electric and produced in France, which is currently being launched commercially. But the buyer of a “family” SUV will find it difficult to switch to a city car…
At Renault, as with other manufacturers, we are mainly betting on the electrification of models (with hybrid or 100% electric motors) to reduce CO2 emissions as a real incentive to opt for smaller vehicles. We can certainly question the fact of using a vehicle larger than our needs require, but it is difficult in itself to control purchases to limit such excesses.
However, French brands receive WWF support for a smaller proportion of SUV sales than their competitors. Ford (76% of sales in 2023), Hyundai (76%) and Kia (66%) dominate this ranking, while Peugeot (43%), Dacia (40%), Renault (39%) and Citroën (35% ) are on the back of the package.
A weight penalty to reinforce
What solutions then to limit this wave of SUVs? WWF France and UFC-Que Choisir ask the government to “encourage” manufacturers to adopt this weight loss regime, “strengthening the weight penalty to discourage unnecessarily heavy vehicles, whether thermal, hybrid or electric.”
Enough to generate “almost €1.8 billion in additional tax revenue, 80% of which comes from models from foreign manufacturers”, to “finance the transition and help French households access more sustainable mobility”.
Implemented on January 1, 2024, the weight penalty is activated from 1,600 kg, a threshold that will a priori be reduced to 1,500 kg next year. Plug-in hybrid vehicles, until now exempt, should also see it applied, but with the right to 200 more kilometers to take into account the weight of the battery.
Source: BFM TV
