Paris city hall is to impose higher parking fees on owners of SUVs in a bid to reduce pollution in the capital.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has set up a referendum for residents to vote on February 4 on whether or not to heavily increase parking fees for SUVs and 4x4s. This follows her first referendum that pushed out shared rental e-scooters, where only the haters showed up to cast their ballot, and very few of those even bothered to turn out. Still, for the SUV vote, Hidalgo promises that Paris city dwellers won’t be affected and that parking hikes will only apply to suburbanites and out-of-towners driving in for work or play.

Considering SUV ownership is low in the city anyway, alongside tensions over traffic from the summer 2024 Olympic Games, predictions say that this will be an easy win.

Anyone driving a combustion or plug-in hybrid vehicle weighing 1.6 tons or more and owners of an electric vehicle weighing 2 tons or more. The higher rate, however, won’t apply to residential parking nor to parking for some professionals, emergency services, or disabled drivers. Earlier discussions originally excluded electric SUVs altogether and people with large families, but that seems to no longer be the case.