Abstract
This article gathers evidence to support the theory that it is possible to achieve government targets for improving environmental quality more efficiently by improving vehicle design than by limiting car use. Up until now, Dutch government policy has been to drastically reduce car traffic, which is essentially a "defensive" approach to the problem. The feasibility of increasing research to produce a more environmentally friendly car at the present time is investigated. The results of this investigation indicate that further research is both feasible and likely to produce good results. It also indicates that passenger cars already meet most of the environmental requirements, but that more research is needed as regards lorries.