A big red car is accompanied by a question: "More or fewer SUVs in Paris?" Deployed across the capital by the mayor's office, this poster calling on Parisians to take part in the citizens' vote on Sunday, February 4, sets the tone. The municipality is pledging to deliver a shock to these massive sport utility vehicles. It is proposing to triple their (non-residential) parking charges: Depending on the arrondissement, these would rise from the current €4-€6 to €12-€18 per hour. Similarly, the maximum charge for six hours would be between €75 and €225.

It's not actually SUVs that are being targeted specifically, as there is no precise definition of this category. The vote concerns "heavy, bulky and polluting personal cars." More precisely, it covers combustion-powered vehicles weighing in excess of 1.6 tonnes, and electric vehicles weighing in excess of 2 tonnes.

Small SUVs such as the Renault Captur or Peugeot 2008 would be spared, unlike the Hyundai Ioniq 6 electric sedan or certain versions of the Renault Kangoo combustion engine. According to the AAA Data consultancy, almost half (438,000) of the 892,000 vehicles registered in the Paris region and potentially affected by the rule cannot be considered SUVs.

This clamor over the SUV speaks volumes to the repellent effect this vehicle category has on some politicians. Parisian municipal officials are criticizing these cars for their pollution and taking up too much public space, as well as increasing the severity of traffic accidents.

Increased taxation

In organizing this vote, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is going along with a section of the public that is well represented in the French capital, where barely one household in three has a car. In Lyon, the Green-led municipality has decided to raise the parking charge for heavy vehicles from summer 2024, without actually holding a vote.

The SUV now accounts for the majority of new vehicle sales in Europe (47% of registrations in France). Even if it escapes traditional definitions, the SUV is high on the government's agenda. Weighing on average some 300 kilos more than a sedan, they have significantly contributed to raising the average mass and dimensions of automobiles. With greenhouse gas emissions higher than the average for their category, the growing impact of SUVs has also had the effect of wiping out some of the positive effects generated by the recent electrification of the market.

The main obstacle to the growth of sport utility vehicles is not, however, the increase in parking charges in major cities – where private underground parking lots do not impose any particular penalties on them – but that of taxation. Their energy consumption, generally estimated at around 20% more than that of the sedans from which they are derived, makes them more liable to penalties linked to carbon dioxide emissions. This also complicates manufacturer efforts to meet environmental targets assigned to them by the European Union, under the risk of penalties.

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