If you buy a sport-utility vehicle, keep it parked. That was the advice offered by Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based watchdog, as he toured Asia to urge action on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, blamed for causing much of the Earth's rising temperatures.
The off-roaders are nearly as common as regular saloons in the US, and are rapidly gaining momentum in Europe and Japan, where petrol can cost more than twice as much.
Here in Ireland, sales have reached 6.35 per cent of the overall market, up 33 per cent on last year. Its growth is beaten only by the people carriers, whose market share has risen by 44 per cent this year.
Speaking in Tokyo, the IEA's executive director said the growing popularity of SUVs was one factor behind the worsening problem of CO2 emissions in Asia, adding that he was particularly alarmed at the rate of purchases in China.
"When I go to China I'm shocked to see people buying these SUVs like noodles on the streets," Mandil said.
Asked if he was saying consumers should boycott SUVs, he offered: "I'm not saying, 'Stop buying SUVs'. Go ahead and buy them, but just keep them parked at home."
As unpopular as SUVs are with the public sector - notably London mayor Ken Livingstone, who famously called SUV drivers "idiots" with more money than sense - the vehicles that environmentalists love to hate are also a hit with car firms, which make more profit selling them than regular cars.
While SUVs have traditionally been the stronghold of the US car marques, virtually all major car firms in the world have an SUV model on sale now - including premium brands such as Mercedes, BMW and sports car makers such as Porsche. Audi is already working on a new SUV model, while its sister company VW already sells its Touareg off-roader, though mainly to suburban families.
According to registration figures, one third of all SUVs in Ireland are registered in Dublin.
First-half figures for the year show that several luxury car firms sell more SUVs in Dublin than in the rest of the State.
Mr Mandil's comments were appropriately made in Japan, where the premium brand Lexus has taken an interesting approach, developing a hybrid petrol-electric version of its RX SUV. The RX400h, which will be introduced here in May, is modelled on the same engineering as the Toyota Prius, but with more power and performance.
- Additional reporting: Reuters