WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com

Please stop interfering

There have been many interesting articles and comments in recent issues concerning the direction of travel of the motor industry.

It’s clear that manufacturers have fully bought into the need to embrace sustainability and fully respect the environment through exploring an array of possibilities.

It’s true that they’ve really only moved in this direction because of a long series of regulatory diktats imposed on them, but could it be that those fairly clumsy policies are now becoming a hindrance rather than a help to the cause? As you’ve often noted, they’re forcing cars to become ever larger, heavier, more complex, pricier, pointlessly faster and more consumptive of rare materials, while laden down by an apparently never-ending list of so-called safety features.

Have we reached a point where it might be best for regulators to move out of the way and give the industry its head to solve the problems? Fully recyclable cars capable of lasting two to three decades won’t be designed by government ministers.

There are a number of ways of fuelling vehicles, including synthetic fuels and hydrogen, not just electricity, with perhaps more possibilities waiting in the wings. Wouldn’t it be better to let the industry and the marketplace decide what’s best for whichever application? Shouldn’t regulation and taxation be encouraging the development and purchase of smaller, not larger, cars using fewer resources and causing less damage to our environment and roads?