Sir Mark Moody-Stuart was formerly chairman of oil company Shell. I am not sure where he is working at now, or whether he is retired, but he has been getting press coverage lately because of a public call to ban cars that cannot do at least 35 mpg – which is about 12.4km per litre of petrol or 8.07 litres per 100km if we assume he means Imperial gallons, which is what UK uses.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders claims a ban is unnecessary because drivers of cars that do less than that mileage paid more road tax and petrol duty. But Moody-Stuart says that is not an excuse as it is not right for the law to let the wealthy avoid doing what is needed by society just by forking out more cash.
He gave an example: “When we eliminated coal fires in London, we didn’t say to people that you can pay a bit more and toast your crumpets in front of an open fire – we said nobody, but nobody, could have an open fire. When we introduced catalytic converters the car-makers said it would put the price of cars through the roof – but it didn’t. Now we all have to have catalytic converters – that’s only right.”
I digging around the net and found that he was driving a Toyota Prius (shown above) in 2003. Not sure if he has changed cars now. The hybrid Prius was tested by the US-EPA and was able to achieve 54 miles per Imperial gallons, or about 19km per litre.
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Good intention to start saving the environment. But how many present mid-sized cars on the road that can achieve 8L per 100km? Those figures are achievable by Diesel powered cars.
If the ban is implemented in our country, I guess only the small cars can make it to the road. Not many C-segment cars can achieve that figure (Waja, Civic, Golf; average mileage around 10L per 100km for mix urban-highway driving using auto tranny).
all country should use the km per litre to charge for sth like a road tax, for example, this will prevent ppl from buying thirsty cars, especially in the US
Road tax is not a solution.
Raise fuel prices and the market will automatically polarize itself. Consumers will figure out whats best for them.
For example, I wont mind a big CC car as I don’t drive enough to make a dent… but having to shell out thousands for road tax for cars I dont drive much is rather pointless.
I very much agree that fuel is still very cheap in Malaysia. However that said (and before I get flamed), its the relative cost of everything else that make fuel feel expensive.
when boleh land have a hybird cars ?? …
wth.. they those playing much with oil price!
btw.. many supercar’s guzzler.. ban them all? do you kidding me?
sxe10r said,
February 5, 2008 @ 8:51 am
when boleh land have a hybird cars ?? …
______
long time ago….eg: honda civic hybrid
In Boleh Land, hybrid cars cost a bomb! They dont have special tax rebate like in California or Europe which save a lot of tax money for environment friendly cars… Even in California, hybrid & electric cars can use emergency lane to move around the city lane.
Even Diesel car road tax cost a bomb also compare to petrol cars in Boleh land… The G should think about the environment. Implement the diesel Euro4 as fast as possible and also set a regulation on all cars running in the road by 2010 must have Euro4 emission.
Just wondering whether this Sir Mark Moody-Stuart would say if he was still the chairman of Shell.
In California it’s actually not the emergency lane that hybrids/low emission vehicles are allowed to use. It’s the carpool lane, which is normally restricted to vehicles with at least 2 occupants.
eh littlefire…how u add ur pic ??
IIANM, Gov did say they gonna speed to 2009 to Euro 4 emission of diesel. That’s 1 per yr (last yr they increase to Euro 2, so assume this yr to Euro 3 nden nxt yr Euro 4)
Bcuz of road tax, it hardly makes sense to get diesel cars unless u do very, very long distance a LOT. Besides, we do hv quite a number of small n economical petrol cars. 2.0L is considered quite big here unlike Europe where 2.0L cars are very common.
This Sir Mark Moody-Stuart just spit out the truth: the wealthy CAN avoid doing what is needed by society just by forking out more cash
More so here in Msia, I doubt we’ll hear such a thing…
wonder if msia conform with Euro4….what would that mean to proton….are they fast enough to keep up with that?
this year…or is it next, suppose to start with Euro V already….
left this part of the comment out….
the only way to reduce this kind of fuel consumption is to improve public transportations…..not by raising tax (road or fuel)…..as a comparison, when have you seen a decrease of smokers number when govt raised tobacco tax?
Leave the supercar alone…just get rid off all not-super-american-car. Above 3.5 liter for average family car MY ASS
Jules on the money.
His life is a contradiction. Why we even care a single word coming out of his mouth; the ex-Shell guy? Is he trying to vindicate his past misdeeds? Feeling guilty is he? Tell him no matter what he says that Prius is still sipping from an oil well that he’s responsible for.
I am eying to buy a Chevrolet Lumina, 3.8 V6 engine.
What the heck man. Petrol only cost 0.45 SAR.
Guess what, I am in Saudi Arabia :-D
This is something bolehland won’t enjoy.
@ront
Proton def has nothing to worry abt. The Campro is Euro 4 engine.
It’s the O&G companies that need to step up their filtering process.
The oni engine I know that’s non-conforment is Petronas’ 2.0 engine which Proton rejected to use (n now used by some Chinese car manufacturer). That engine is oni Euro 2 compliant I remember.
Malaysia is still far behind. No incentives to go green. Got sun all year also not utilising it properly, initial cost is more, but its better to go green than to blame indon for everytime we get fogs
“fogs” I meant haze
The thing is.. this actually came out from a mouth of ex-chairman of oil company Shell. I just couldn’t believe it.
nmh said,
February 5, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
Leave the supercar alone…just get rid off all not-super-american-car. Above 3.5 liter for average family car MY ASS
Right … unlike your average Asian driver, Americans and Australians drive long distances (think Sydney to Melbourne, a distance greater than 1000 km) on hilly terrain. So a 3.5 litre engine is necessary for long trips with 2 adults and 2 kids. It isn’t just driving from KL to Ipoh on a flat highway.
If you ever come to Oz with 4 adults and luggage, I would recommend renting nothing smaller than a 2.4 litre Camry, preferably a big Aussie 6 cylinder family sedan (Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon). I remember 4 of my friends in New Zealand rented a Mistu Lancer (1.6? 1.8?) to go skiing and boy did the car struggle with 4 adults and all the snow gear.
Also … when was the last time you saw an Asian driver
– tow a boat
– tow a caravan
– tow a horse float
– fill up the car with camping gear and supplies for a long weekend getaway
A big, torquey engine is justified in those circumstances.
i would wish to ban him from talking crap…
Hi petulance,
The problem with Aussie and American is their mentality. They have been brought up with the mentality that to qualified for a family car, it must be 4 liters.
Yeah, those were the day when petrol was cheap. The situation is completely different. More and more Aussie are downsizing. Smaller cars are getting more spacious, stable and powerful. All the muscle cars are suffering like nobody business. For instance the recent Magna 380. It was tagged as one of the best car ever produced by Mitsubishi Australia, and yet was one of the biggest set back. The reason is because the designers still have the mentality that Australian loves a 3.8 liters car.
Long distance drive is not an issue as Australian drivers hardly exceed the speed limit of 110kmph. Having a muscle car in Australia is pointless as your car will most likely under utilize.
Unlike my current situation where petrol is only RM0.40. The price of muscle car is also fairly cheap. So you will be a fool if you don’t make use of this opportunity :-D
Sir Mark – I 2nd that!