Efficiency labels for new cars

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Buyers will see white-goods-style energy labels on cars from summer 2005 to help them decide which are the most fuel- and tax-efficient models to buy.

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Buyers will see white-goods-style energy labels on cars from summer 2005 to help them decide which are the most fuel- and tax-efficient models to buy.

Every new car on show will display the new label, which rates its carbon-dioxide emissions in six colour-coded bands. The labels are similar to the energy-efficiency stickers shown on refrigerators.

Currently, new cars are legally required to display official economy figures in text. The new labels are designed to be more user-friendly with colourful graphics and at-a-glance highlights.

Konstanze Scharring, deputy director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, which is overseeing the scheme, said: ‘Consumers need to see whether something is good or bad immediately – we don’t want to confuse them with figures.

‘We have adopted a very similar scheme to fridges and washing machines so they can easily understand the relative efficiency of a particular car. The new labels also have running costs for the first time.’

The scheme will be rolled out from July 1 2005 and every showroom in the country will participate from September 1 2005. Insiders suggest some dealers might be unwilling to label cars if it makes them look bad, but officially manufacturers are behind the scheme.

The Toyota Prius qualifies for the one of the greenest labels thanks to its market-leading low carbon-dioxide emissions of just 104g/km. A spokesman for the company said: ‘We support anything that goes one step further in highlighting the benefits of vehicles like the Prius.’

Bentley, on the other hand, produces the Arnage luxury car which emits almost five times as much CO2 as the Prius at 495g/km. It’ll slot into the worst category as a result. While the company was unaware of the new labelling programme when we called, a spokesman politely told Whatcar.com: ‘We support any initiative that enhances the information available to customers.’