§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslopasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will report progress after the first year of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' voluntary target scheme to improve the miles per gallon of new cars.
§ Mr. John MooreThe SMMT commitment is to increase the average mpg of new cars by 10 per cent. by 1985. This is calculated on the basis of the "national model average", which has improved from 28.47 mpg in October 1978 to 29.00 mpg in October 1979, a change of 1.9 per cent. This is a promising start towards the 1985 target.
Petrol savings resulting from this first year's improvement are hard to estimate but could be of the order of 8 million gallons per annum. This annual saving is likely to increase as a greater number of new and more efficient cars replace older vehicles in the national fleet.