MANUFACTURERS immediately defended themselves following Stewart Whyte's hard-hitting attack on their work. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders hit back with a list of extensive efforts to put CO2 figures into the public domain.

A spokesman said: 'Whyte's claims are completely the opposite of what we are doing. We have launched an environmental labelling scheme, which

provides CO2 details along with list price and specification on cars in dealerships and CO2 emission figures are available on our website.'