London - German luxury car maker Porsche gave notice Tuesday that it plans to challenge in court the proposed trebling of a daily congesting charge for high-pollution vehicles in London. Porsche, whose four-wheel drive Cayenne is popular with well-to-do Londoners, says the increased charge of 25 pounds (50 dollars) per day is an "unfair tax" that will neither relieve congestion nor cut pollution in central London.
Livingstone plans to introduce the hike in October. Currently, vehicles entering the central London congestion zone pay a charge of 8 pounds per day, but the fee its cut to 80 pence per day for residents living inside the zone.
"A massive congestion charge increase is quite simply unjust. Thousands of car owners driving a huge range of cars will be hit by a disproportionate tax which is clear will have a very limited effect on CO2 emissions," said Andy Goss, managing director of Porsche Cars in Britain.
He said Porsche would be writing to Livingstone this week and expected a response within 14 days.
"If the Mayor fails to respond to Porsche's letter or refuses to reconsider his plans, Porsche intends formally to submit its application for judicial review at the Royal Courts of Justice," he said.
The proposed change would be bad for London as a whole and send out a signal that the British capital was not the best place to do business, he added.
From October 27, the new charging regime will apply to vehicles emitting more than 225 grams of carbon dioxide per one kilometre, as well as those registered before March 2001 which have engines larger than 3,000 cubic centimetres.
Statistics show that at present 17 per cent of vehicles driven inside the congestion zone would be affected by the hike.
A spokesman for Livingstone said Porsche's threat of legal action was a "double attack" on Londoners.
"First, Porsche are trying to deprive Londoners of their democratic right to decide in the mayoral election on May 1 whether they want gas-guzzling and polluting cars to drive in London when there is absolutely no need for them to do so."
"Second, they are trying to impose on all Londoners unnecessary levels of pollution and greenhouse gases by a tiny minority."
Environment group Friends of the Earth backed the Mayor, saying that all sectors of the economy needed to play a part in the fight against pollution and climate change.
"Along with the rest of the German car industry they (Porsche) are desperately resisting the strong measures needed to tackle the car industry's contribution to climate change," said a spokesman.
