Isn't it time we saw cars as purely functional requirements and not as status symbols?

Future cool

Congestion charging and vehicle tax can only go so far to controlling pollution. How about making it an EU requirement that vehicle manufacturers and dealers can only sell their products on the basis of need?

If you are single and live in Chelsea then you won't need a 4x4. If you are a farmer in a rural area you will. If you are an elderly couple living in a town you won't need a family sized car. If you want to own a sports car that's fine, but you can only use it on a race track, or private land.

If you require a second car, this car must meet extremely tight environmental criteria.

Within ten years the whole attitude to personal transport would have shifted and the status would be in the efficiency and design of the vehicle, not the cost and the power.