Sport-utility vehicles - the ubiquitous soccer-mom transportation in theU.S. - are also overtaking the European market. And as in the U.S., a growing number of drivers and legislators want to do something about it.

In the city of London, plans to punish drivers of sport-utes are afoot as Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer and likely the next prime minister of Great Britain , is threatening to impose a gas-guzzler tax on SUVs in the name of fighting climate change. Brown is getting help from London mayor Ken Livingstone, who wants to triple the entry toll for city streets for large vehicles like SUVs from about $15 to $50.

The increased tolls would also apply to the Ford Mondeo wagon and Chrysler minivans. Understandably, sales of SUVs in the greater London area are sliding, and used ute prices have fallen dramatically.

The situation is much the same in the Netherlands, where the " Chelsea tractors" are dubbed "P.C. Hoof tractors, after the luxury shopping street in central Amsterdam . Last year, Last year the city of Nijmegen tried to outlaw SUVs in city driving, but could not change the laws because of another law that says municipalities cannot decide which cars can park where, once they have been made legal on Dutch roads.

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