Ban on selling new petrol, diesel or hybrid cars in the UK will be brought forward from 2040 to 2035 Classic car concerns The BBC News item says "the change in plans, which will be subject to a consultation, comes after experts warned the previous target date of 2040 would still leave old conventional cars on the roads following the clean-up date of 2050". So it looks as if classic cars will be able to continue to run on public roads until 2050 - the year when the MG Car Club will see its 120 year anniversary! Who will own an MGBGTV8 in 2050? Today the typical age of MGBGTV8 owners is probably between 55 and 70 so if the mean age of of an owner in 2050 is say 65 then he or she will be 35 day today. So we need to look for younger members to become the future custodians of the MGV8 model! Huge rise in SUV sales is not helping The "immense" rise in sales of high-emission sports utility vehicles means they now outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one, research has found - see chart alongside. As a result, overall exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing, not declining, for the past three years, says the UK Energy Research Centre. SUV sales are jeopardising the UK transport sector's ability to meet EU emissions targets, it said. Prof Jillian Anable of the UKERC said this made "a mockery" of UK policy. Effectively, we have been sleepwalking into the issue," she said. Posted: 200204 The BBC reports the UK Government has announced "a ban on selling new petrol, diesel or hybrid cars in the UK will be brought forward from 2040 to 2035 at the latest, under government plans. The change comes after experts said 2040 would be too late if the UK wants to achieve its target of emitting virtually zero carbon by 2050. Boris Johnson unveiled the policy as part of a launch event for a United Nations climate summit to be held in November. He said 2020 would be a "defining year of climate action" for the planet". The climate summit, known as COP26, is being hosted in Glasgow. It is an annual UN-led gathering set up to assess progress on tackling climate change. Sir David Attenborough was at the launch event at London's Science Museum and said that he was looking forward to COP26 and found it "encouraging" that the UK Government was launching a "year of climate action". He added "the longer we leave it . . . the worse it is going to get. So now is the moment. It is up to us to organise the nations of the World to do something about it." BBC News Over the past four years, there have been 1.8 million SUV sales, compared to a total of 47,000 for battery electric vehicles (BEV). In 2018, SUVs accounted for 21.2% of new car sales in the UK, up from 13.5% three years earlier. Battery car sales in 2019 were almost double sales in 2018 but they still only made 1.6% of new car sales. The sales of hybrids outsell pure electric cars in the UK. Hydrogen fuelled cars The development of hydrogen fuelled cars is coming and many feel they are likely to be a better technology avoiding the heavy cost and weight of batteries in motor cars. From 2019 there are three models of hydrogen cars publicly available in select markets: the Toyota Mirai, the Hyundai Nexo, and the Honda Clarity. Jaguar Land Rover has said hydrogen fuel might be more suitable than battery-electric power for its largest SUVs as it works to cut emissions. See an Autocar article on hydrogen power