The man who brought the congestion charge to London England has lost his bid for re-election as Mayor of England's capital. Ken Livingstone has always been a controversial figure in British politics but his tenure as mayor of London brought that controversy to new heights. In the course of his eight years at the helm, Livingstone introduced the congestion charge that requires drivers to pay a toll of £8 (about $16) per day to drive into a zone of central London. During the local elections held across much of England in recent days, Livingstone lost his bid for a third term to Conservative party MP Boris Johnson.

The congestion charge was originally pushed as a means of discouraging people from driving into the crowded central area of the city. However, recent studies have indicated that in spite of the fee, traffic has actually gotten worse in London. More recently, Livingstone has moved to expand the congestion zone and change the fee structure to make it based carbon dioxide emissions of the car. As a result cars that emit less than 120g/km of CO₂ would have been exempt from the charge while the thirstiest vehicles would have seen the fee rise to as much as £25 per day. Johnson, the new mayor is opposed to this emissions-based fee and promises to scrap the plan and possibly even rescind the expansion of the congestion zone that occurred in 2007. So it looks like while other cities will proceed with emissions based congestion charges, the city that pioneered the idea may be taking a step back.

[Source: Bloomberg]

By now, you're surely aware of the efforts of London Mayor Ken Livingstone to increase London's congestion charge. You're also likely know about the distaste that Porsche feels regarding these changes. Back in late February, Porsche polled Londoners themselves and found that 74 percent of Londoners think that the new £25 congestion charge is too high. Hmm... Livingstone's got his own survey too, and he says, "This robust survey provides further clear evidence of the strong support from Londoners for these measures, with 61% behind the decision to charge £25 for gas-guzzlers. Moreover, 65% say that the overall policy is good for London." Who's right? Don't know, be we do konw that someone's wrong. Unless 74 and 61 make 100 in some sort of new math.

This ongoing debate seems far from over. We're sure that more numbers will be thrown around from both camps (and just about anybody else who has an opinion) which support their viewpoints. Round and round we go!

[Source: What Car]

Toyota can't be the only one who benefits from the expansion of London's Congestion Charge zone next week, right? Honda is saying it expects there to be 6,500 more hybrid cars in London by 2008 (low-emission hybrids don't have to pay the £8 daily driving charge). In preparation, Honda will make available 3,000 petrol-electric Civic Hybrids in the UK during 2007.

Looking further afield, we know Honda will launch a concept two-seat coupe hybrid sports car in Geneva. Honda has also committed to making a global, purpose-built hybrid car that will be smaller and cheaper than the Civic, for sale in 2009. Whatever Honda calls it, this will be the second-generation Insight. So, just for kicks, here's a gallery of the first-gen Insight. (Oh, and Honda's press release after the jump, you know).



Related:

• Geneva Motor Show previews from Honda: FCX driveable concept, new sports hybrid concept, next-gen clean diesel
• Second-generation Honda Insight expected to be unveiled at Geneva Motor Show

[Source: Honda]