Who are they trying to kid?

Dinky Toys 27D – Land Rover (1)

Originally uploaded by Stephen Edmonds.

In last weeks Saturday Independent, and no doubt other newspapers and magazines, Land Rover had a full page advert – telling us how wonderful they are, and how GREEN they are?!

I’m supposed to be impressed that they have just unveiled a new concept vehicle with potential CO2 emissions of 120g/km – note the two words there –

CONCEPT – so not something that any of us will be driving, not something that is likely to make it onto the streets at all.

POTENTIAL – even if it does make it onto the roads, it only has the potential for emissions of 120g/km, and let’s be honest – do you know if that’s a low or high amount of emissions, we are left to assume that it’s low. And even then it’s only a potential, the actual emissions will depend on how the vehicle is driven and a myriad of other factors.

I’m supposed to be impressed that they have, since 1997, reduced the emissions in their plant by 30% – but what they don’t tell us is how high they were in the first place?

I’m supposed to be impressed that they are ‘offsetting the first 45,000 miles of all new Land Rovers sold in the UK (what about the ones sold overseas?) – but they don’t say how they are doing this, and anyway ‘offsetting’ seems to me just a way for companies and individuals to feel better about their energy consumption.

I am impressed that many conservation and humanitarian organisations choose to use Land Rover vehicles – but that is because they have little choice given the tough conditions in many parts of the world, not because they are environmentally friendly. These are places where hardy four-wheel drive vehicles are not a fashion accessory, or something to impress clients – these are places where having a four-wheel drive is the only way to move around.