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Labour's plans, although not as advanced, echo those announced by the Tories last year. David Cameron's advisors drafted a series of "green supertaxes" which would add as much as £3,000 in tax to the showroom price of bigger cars.

The first detailed report, by Cambridge Econometrics, sought to identify policies that "might be used to reduce CO2 emissions from road transport."

It said its findings confirmed "the prior beliefs of the DfT", that people buying cars in the middle tax bands were most likely to be affected by small changes in both purchase price and running costs.

According to the report, these drivers are most likely to choose more environmentally friendly cars next time they go into the showroom.
This was reinforced by a second study, by the Economics for the Environment Consultancy, which examined what would happen if only 1 per cent was added to the showroom price of new cars.

The economists found the biggest impact on carbon dioxide emissions came when prices were hiked up for cars in the middle of the market, between 141 grams CO2 per kilometre and 225.

In this range - encompassing a Ford Fiesta 1.4 to a Ford Focus 2.5 - the change in price would see large numbers of motorists buying greener cars.

The DfT said the studies were "routine research" without any policy recommendations.

But the willingness of the DfT to commission them is significant, given that Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, has ordered his own report on how motorists can be encouraged to chose greener cars.

That study, from Professor Julia King, vice-chancellor of Aston University, is due to be presented before the next budget.

Last night the Tories welcomed the Government's readiness to adopt green motoring taxes.

"I applaud the government having adopted this policy which makes enormous sense," said Steve Norris, the author of the party's Quality of Life Commission report on transport.

"It is nice to see them stealing more of the Conservative Party's clothes.

"It has been obvious for a long time if we were serious about climate change and the impact of motor transport this is the way we were going to have to proceed.

"I do not believe we should penalize people for choices they have already made we should use the tax system to provide choices they make in the future."

But the AA voiced alarm at the prospect of yet more motoring taxes.

"National and local government are coming up with yet more schemes which are financially punitive for car owners and their families," said a spokesman.

"If we are talking about two to three years to warning so people can get their finances in order, then that is fine. But we can't accept yet overnight another tax hike in the name of bringing down CO2."

Howard Wheedon, a senior strategist at the stockbrokers BGC, said: "It is a piece of academic material showing how you can force green policy through.

"Manufacturers are already under pressure from the EU to produce greener cars. The fact is they can make them, but you still have to make the public by them."

Stephen Joseph, executive director of the environmental lobby group, The Campaign for Better Transport, supported the move.

"These studies suggest that changes in this direction would be in motorists interests because it would also reduce fuel consumption. Drivers seem to give quite a high priority to this.

"Clearly any changes will have to be seen as fair and phased in to avoid penalizing people for recent decisions."

In the USA an array of incentives are available to encourage motorists to buy environmentally friendly hybrid cars.

The 2005 Energy Bill gives anyone buying a hybrid a rebate against their income tax from £200 to £1,700. Some states also waives the purchase tax as well.