This is a great result and for once shows the power of collective lobbying.
If you read the whole report you get the gist how they were overwhelmed by, email, letters and responses to the questionnaire from the kit car community.
For anyone not wishing to read the whole report here is the important summary from Jesse Norman MP.
Our proposal to implement stricter emissions rules for kit cars was a minor part of the package. But it raised serious concerns among kit car enthusiasts, and attracted the vast majority of the 2340 responses received. There were numerous objections, pointing out among other things the importance and value of the UK’s specialist vehicle industry. We have reflected on these concerns and have decided not to proceed with this aspect of the proposal.
And in the relevant section....
2.39 Respondents argued fitting catalytic converters and more modern engines to kit cars would lead to negligible positive impact on the environment, given the low proportion of kit cars in the fleet, the low average mileages travelled and low proportion of travel in urban areas. On the other hand respondents cited the expected enormous negative impact on the industry, with concerns around harming authenticity, increasing cost, packaging difficulties and technical issues with using modern engines with immobilisers designed for a specific application.
2.40 In addition, a lot of respondents argued that a change of this nature could not be made quickly but would require suitable notice, because the timeline for constructing a kit car can be extensive, up to ten years and several respondents had experience of a longer period. Constructors really valued the current ability to purchase an engine of a given build date and be confident that when the vehicle was finally complete it would still be assessed against age-appropriate standards.
2.41 The potential harmful impact of the proposed changes on the industry supporting amateur builders was mentioned, with respondents pointing out that the kit car sector was part of a larger UK specialist car industry which was world leading and a source of exports.
Well done everyone who took the trouble to respond!!
