That's exactly what OP meant I'm sure. I'm personally baffled by that policy - it means that the most modern, most innovative vehicles end up paying more tax because......they happen to cost over £40k? What's the logic there? It was supposed to be a tax on emissions - and instead it ends up being a tax on lifestyle.

Well... it's a luxury tax. You can't argue that a car which costs more than the annual salary of 80% of people isn't a luxury. Other electric cars are more cheaply available. There's no particular reason for the UK to subsidise a US car manufacturer when the Nissan Leaf is made in the UK! (+)

VED has a complex history but the emissions part is fairly recent, and the luxury part even more recent (this year!).

(+) I think this is still true at time of writing but may be affected by Brexit

I mean, I don't disagree. But it doesn't just touch electric cars - hybrids are affected too. And it's just bizzare to me that you could have a £39k diesel or a £40k hybrid and the latter will actually pay more in annual tax despite being more ecologically friendly, purely because of the purchase price. If I was in the market for a vehicle like that the extra "luxury" tax would probably steer me towards the non-hybrid option, and that's not what we want customers to do, is it? I don't know. Maybe I just can't relate to the whole idea of this tax, the only intuitive way that I understand it is "how dare you buy an expensive car, fuck you, here's extra tax"(despite the fact that obviously VAT applies equally so the more expensive the car the more tax you pay anyway....)

Different taxes are applied for different reasons. The luxury tax is applied in the belief that those who have a higher financial status should be contributing more to the public funds. The pollution tax is applied in the belief that those who pollute more should also pay more and to potentially discourage people from buying polluting cards( in the presence of a better alternative, but for most people the model 3 might as well not exist right now because it's too expensive).

The truth is that there just aren't enough people who can afford a model 3 to make a dent in global warming. The model 3's effect is in terms of dealing with the risks involved with mass production without investing the amount of money needed for a truly disruptive model( think 15-25k cost, that would take A LOT more orders).

Indeed it's odd. It sounds like "if you can spend 40k on a car then you're filthy rich and thus must be able to spend 40k plus a hefty tax". When put this way it appears to resonate with one of the common ways to see the world.

Yes, that's pretty much it? Perhaps surprisingly, it was introduced by the 2015 Conservative government. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/industry-hits-ou...