The cars paying the highest road tax in 2018

• The Lamborghini Aventador has the highest level of CO2 emissions at 370 g/km
• 74 car models over 14 makes will pay the top road tax rate of £2,070
• Top 10 gas guzzlers are European supercars, but there are also three American makes – Cadillac, Chevrolet and Corvette – with models in the top VED band
• Average price of cars that pay the highest first year VED rate is £160,307

From this month (April 2018), Britain’s highest polluting cars will be charged £2,070 road tax in the first year of registration. But what cars are actually in the top road tax band? We looked into the UK’s top gas guzzlers, and they’re all supercars. These cars are in the top vehicle excise duty (VED) band because they emit more than 255g of CO2 per kilometre*.

Take the Lamborghini Aventador, popular with Premiership footballers, but not a friend of the environment, as the 6.5 Litre V12 model spews out 370g of CO2 per kilometre.

Meanwhile there are 13 Aston Martin models in the top road tax band; making these stylish motors some of the thirstiest gas guzzlers on our roads.

According to analysis by Motorway.co.uk on CO2 emission rates, there are 74 models across 14 car makes (excluding rare supercars such as the Bugatti Veyron) in the highest VED band for emissions. While the top 10 gas guzzlers are European supercars, three American makes – Cadillac, Corvette and Chevrolet – have models in the top VED band. And apart from the Corvette Z06 Coupe 6.2 V8, the other models aren’t supercars.

In the top 10 list of gas guzzlers, the Lamborghini Aventador is the most polluting car, closely followed by the Bentley Continental GTC Supersports, which emits 362g of CO2 per km, and the Maserati GranTurismo 4.7 litre V8, 360g of CO2/km.

Although these cars will be charged the highest amount of road tax in the first year, it’s doubtful the owners of these cars will feel too out of pocket, as the average on-the-road price of cars in the top VED band is £160,307. For example, the Rolls Royce Dawn 6.6 litre V12 Black Badge, emits one of the highest levels of CO2/km at 337g, and will set you back £312,535.

The following table reveals the Top 10 cars in the highest VED band, that have the highest CO2 emission levels:

Alex Buttle, director of car buying comparison website Motorway.co.uk comments:

“It’s quite shocking that the most polluting new supercars in our research emit nearly 400g of CO2 per km, which to put that in context is four times that of an average family car like the new Volvo XC40 which emits around 130g/km. But let’s face it, no-one buys one of these beefy gas guzzlers for their fuel efficiency or environmental credentials.

“And with the worst polluters being Lambos, Bentleys and Ferraris which are most popular amongst the super-rich, the government’s highest road tax fee of £2,070 is unlikely to put any kind of dent in their owner’s wallet.

“Which does beg the question, when the average purchase price of these cars is more than £160,000, why isn’t the VED rate at the top level even higher? With some of these cars costing more than a small house in some parts of the UK, could VED be means tested?”

* Data on CO2 emissions from nextgreencar.com