THE European Commission should act to harmonise taxes across the Eurozone instead of wasting time defining what shape a banana should be, Mitsubishi Motors' managing director Jim Tyrrell told a press dinner.

Although he claimed the UK motor industry had not performed a very good job in explaining why UK prices were higher than continental European prices in the long-running row over new car prices, he suggested European governments had largely created the problem with their policies on car tax and exchange rates.

'Tax on cars ranges from 7.5% in Switzerland to 200% in Denmark - anyone can see that that would tend to affect pricing. All businesses will want to make their products as affordable as possible and that's what the car companies have done in these high tax markets.'

Tyrrell also insisted that Britain should join the single currency: 'The euro is a political idea and probably not a good one. But if it exists we are insane not to join it,' he said.

'This will allow car manufacturers to set euro prices with common specifications - that is the best way of taking billions of pounds of complexity cost out of the car business - then we can pass the benefit on to customers.'