The European Union is calling on car manufacturers to get their house in order after it was revealed that emissions from new cars have risen for the third consecutive year.

From 2017 to 2019 emissions from new passenger cars have been well above the EU target of 95g per kilometre according to the European Environment Agency, this coming after the emissions had seen a steady decline from 2010 to 2016.

Motor manufacturers are being warned that they face heavy fines for exceeding their targets, though the trend for heavier SUV sales will not be helping the industry meet its targets.

The EEA report said ‘About 38 % of new car registrations were SUVs. Compared to other cars in the same segment, SUVs are typically heavier and have more powerful engines and larger frontal areas – all features that increase fuel consumption. The majority of new SUVs registered were powered by petrol, with average emissions of 134 g CO2/km, which is around 13 g CO2/km higher than the average emissions of other new petrol cars.’

Whilst hybrid and electric cars will eventually bring emissions to lower levels, the take-up of EVs across Europe is not helping keep emissions down. Of the 15.5million cars sold in 2018, 59 per cent were petrol engines, 31 per cent were diesel and the remainder were made up of electric and hybrids.

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