Vehicle fleet

• having higher annual taxes on older vehicles;
• enhancing inspection and maintenance requirements, which will make the operation of older cars more costly and encourage their replacement.

Since 1970, the number of passenger cars in the EU has increased by a factor of 2.5, an average of 3.4 % per year. Several factors have contributed to this growth, the most important probably being increasing incomes, the relative prices of transport, and socio-economic developments that encourage the use of private cars.

Between 1970 and 1997, the growth in the number of passenger cars was highest in Greece (8.4 % per year), Portugal (6.9 % per year) and Spain (6.6 % per year). These countries had by far the lowest numbers in 1970. The Member States with the lowest growth were Sweden (1.5 % per year), Denmark (1.7 % per year) and the United Kingdom (2.3 % per year).

With few exceptions (e.g. Denmark and Italy), the stock of passenger cars correlates well with GDP per capita. In 1997, the number of vehicles per inhabitant ranged from more than 1 per 2 inhabitants in Italy, Luxembourg and Germany, to fewer than 1 per 3 inhabitants in Greece and Portugal.

About 200 million bicycles contribute to mobility in an environment-friendly manner (Source: DG Transport).

The average age of the European passenger car fleet increased from 6.1 years in 1980 to 7.0 years in 1997 (Figure 6.14). The effect of scrapping schemes that have been used in Greece, Denmark, Ireland and Italy can be seen in Figure 6.14 – schemes were operational in1994-1995 in Denmark, 1991-1993 in Greece, 1995-1997 in Ireland and 1997-1998 in Italy.

There are significant variations in the average age of car fleets across Europe, with the lowest in Luxembourg (4 years) and the highest in Portugal (11 years). Ireland and Belgium also have low average ages and Greece, Finland and Sweden have high average ages. The high average age in Portugal and Greece relates to general economic conditions, while the high ages in Sweden and Finland are probably a consequence of periods of economic recession in these countries in the early 1990s. New registrations are however growing again and vehicle fleets are getting younger.

• A joint Eurostat-UNECE-ECMT survey is collecting data on the average ages of different types of road vehicles. The newness of the questionnaire precludes an early assessment of trends at the EU level.
• The feasibility of providing data on average age for freight transport (for example, light and heavy-duty vehicles) and other transport modes (aeroplanes, trains and ships) needs to be investigated.