The anti-SUV lobby gained publicity in Britain early on Monday morning when Greenpeace protestors entered a Land Rover factory and disrupted production.
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The environmental action group told the BBC that 35 of its members breached security at the Solihull plant, on the outskirts of Birmingham in the West Midlands, protesting at what Greenpeace claims are the “climate wrecking” emissions from Range Rovers, Land Rover’s premium model line.
The company is currently rolling out a new Range Rover Sport model line. The vehicles are slightly smaller then the Range Rover and engines on offer include a large supercharged petrol-powered V8.
Land Rover reportedly confirmed the incident had taken place but said only a “small part” of the plant had been affected.
“The action taken by Greenpeace… is both regrettable and damaging – Land Rover is a leading British business and exports over 70% of its production, and contributes significantly to the country’s wealth creation,” a company spokesman told the BBC, adding that Land Rover employed 11,000 staff and supported another 50,000 jobs in the supply chain.
According to a Greenpeace statement cited by the BBC, protesters “used safety shut-down buttons to cut off power to the assembly line” before handcuffing and chaining themselves to unfinished vehicles on the assembly line at around 7am British time.
Greenpeace reportedly said that although “climate change is the greatest threat the planet is facing” Land Rover “continues to make gas-guzzling vehicles, most of which will tackle nothing steeper than a speed bump”.
“Making cars like this for urban use is crazy when 150,000 people are dying every year from climate change,” Greenpeace’s Ben Stewart told the BBC, adding: “Range Rover do less miles to the gallon than the model T Ford.”
Land Rover reportedly responded that it took its responsibilities to the environment “very seriously” and a spokesman told the BBC that the company considers many of the claims made by Greenpeace both misleading and inaccurate.
He reportedly said most of the factory was “generally running as normal”, with one production line affected.
