It seems car sales in Europe are suffering this year. Via Automotive News Europe here's the sales results for the first six months of the year.

Large SUVs: -44.4
Large cars: -29.5
Large minivans: -21.7
Upper premium: -15.8
Premium SUVs: -14.6
Source: JATO Dynamics

That's a lot of people choosing to do the right thing. Of course most of this is driven by the high fuel prices, but if you'd asked the car companies back in January could they cut Large SUV sales by 44% they'd have told you it was impossible.

Now we need laws to make sure this positive trend becomes permanent.