They Can Have My Maserati When They Pry My Cold, Dead Hands off the Steering Wheel

Bloomberg’s Doron Levin presents a sad vision of Europe’s future – one in which high-performance sports cars are a thing of the past:

If one of the more extreme responses to global warming comes true, driving a sports car anywhere but on a racetrack might be relegated to history’s dustbin.

Fast, powerful cars within a few years may be outlawed in Europe, an idea that has been raised ostensibly because Ferraris and Porsches produce too much carbon dioxide. For those who abhor sports cars as vulgar symbols of affluence (along with vacation homes, furs and fancy jewelry), such a ban could be a two-fer: Saving the planet while cutting economic inequality.

The Bugatti Veyron: Soon to Be a 1001hp Exile?

What a surprise: the real impetus is an emotional reaction of the affluence of others. This appears to be part of an attempt to bring back all of the institutions of Medieval times. We already have a flourishing market for carbon indulgences, why not sumptuary laws as well?