Audi CEO favors weight based Euro CO2 limits
While European manufacturers like Peugeot and Fiat are not thrilled by the latest weight-based CO2 emissions limit proposals, the same cannot be said for Audi CEO Rupert Stadler. Given that Audi's lineup, much like those of fellow Germans Mercedes and BMW, has grown significantly in both mass and power output in the past two decades this should come as no surprise. Although Audi and others have been actively lobbying for the change, Stadler is the first to come out publicly in favor of it.
While the average for all European manufacturers is currently about 160g/km of CO2, Audi's average is 179g/km. The original proposal would have required all companies to meet a 130g/km limit. The Audi A1 coming in 2009 is expected to drop Audi's average by 5g/km. At the same time Audi has been bringing out increasingly powerful models like the R8 sports car and the upcoming Q7 V12 TDI. Unlike the US based automakers, the Germans can't even call for higher fuel taxes since Europe already has high fuel taxes. If a sliding scale based on weight is enacted it definitely needs to drive significant reductions even for heavier cars even they don't come down to the 130g/km level.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter 3:58PM (8/14/2007)
If the end goal is to reduce emissions of CO2, we should regulate emission of CO2 directly and nothing else. A sliding scale based on weight will open up the possibility of using heavier cars to meet regulations instead of cleaner ones.
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rgseidl 7:28PM (8/14/2007)
@ Peter -
large, heavy cars will always emit more CO2 than small ones, even if there is more financial scope to apply fuel-saving high tech. The point is, manufacturers of premium vehicles simply don't want the EU to force them to build significantly smaller and lighter cars. It would gut their business models. Small car = commodity = small profit.
The discussion is roughly analogous to the one about tightening CAFE in the US.
The appropriate way to rein in CO2 emissions is a general carbon tax plus commensurate cuts in income and/or general sales taxes, otherwise the poor will suffer unacceptable declines in living standards. Corporations will produce what they think will sell. If there is a shift in demand, they will respond to it by developing better technology.
Therefore, if politicians want the auto industry to reduce Europe's energy supply risk, they need to pass legislation that influences consumer demand instead of artificially constraining supply. The rapid decline in Norwegian and UK oil production is making Europe more dependent than ever on Russia and OPEC, so Europe's oil & gas supply risks are indeed rising.
In Europe, dressing the whole thing up as a pro-active measure, supposedly avert environmental disaster quickly degenerates into the old socialist rhetoric of envy. People very quickly smell a rat.
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Joseph 7:49PM (8/14/2007)
Sounds fair, it can be something like:
"If the car is under 3,250 pounds you need to have a C02 number of X, and if the car is over 3,250 pounds then it has to have a CO2 number of Y"
One, most cars in europe already are small. Two, just because the standard is different for heavier car, which are practically a rarity, doesn't mean the standard doesn't have to be difficult. Having 30 mpg be the standard for SUVs and whatnot is very difficult, for example.
Also, sports cars of course should be left out of the whole fuel efficiency stuff. I mean, there's so few anyway.
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