New SUV registrations

Off-road vehicles increasingly popular in Carinthia

Since last year, there have been almost twice as many SUVs on Carinthia's roads as small cars.

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER / APA / picturedesk.com)

Every second newly registered car in Carinthia is an SUV, a sport utility vehicle.

Car drivers in Carinthia love SUVs - according to the statistics! "Last year, twice as many SUVs as small cars were newly registered in Carinthia. In 2010, the ratio was the other way around," says the Austrian Transport Club (VCÖ), not very pleased with the trend.

Around 3000 of the 13,316 new cars registered in Carinthia last year were small cars. The fewest new SUVs are on the road in the Wolfsberg district (34 percent share), ahead of Villach with almost 45 percent - the highest SUV share was in Hermagor with 56 percent.

"SUVs have a higher energy consumption than comparable models. This is a burden on both the environment and your wallet. We need better guidelines for manufacturers so that more fuel-efficient models come onto the market," demands the VCÖ.