Mr. James Nix:

Regrettably, the answer to the Senator's first question is "No". There is very little action at EU level to bring down the bonnet height. Unfortunately, we are seeing the trends going in the opposite direction. We are noticing double digit growth in the importation of US pick-up trucks - Dodges, Rams, Ford F-150s and so on. It is all going in the wrong direction on that. I think there is a pushback against the weight tax because, for example in France, commercial vehicles are not generally included. Vans, farm jeeps and anything registered to a commercial user are out, with the exception of vehicles with four seats. These are sometimes known as crew cab pick-ups with a flatbed at the back and so on. What they are trying to do in the design of the weight tax is stop large pick-ups from becoming ordinary passenger vehicles.

The Senator asked a question about 1,600 kg vehicles. We have looked at mid-market Audi cars with an internal combustion engine for example. They are about 1,500 kg. A point mentioned earlier referred to bank or club seating for larger families. This is where three children can be strapped in across the back with a single unit car seat. There are definitely solutions. They are not very well known, but it is not true to say that a medium-sized car cannot take three child seats across the back. They can, but they need to be unified child seats.

We see some analysis of what tolling could do, but it is generally localised and there is not any EU push to vary toll rates based on passenger vehicle weight.