Please keep in mind that with statistics, there are always 'caveats'. This is not to discount the stats contained herein, but keep in mind how data is collected and summarized can greatly impact the type of inferences you can accurately develop.

In this case, this table was "derived" by Transport & Environment (a Brussels-based environmental pressure group) from EU monitoring data that was obtained under freedom of information laws.

It is also interesting that the companies that had the lowest CO2 also don't sell any cars in the US (discounting Ferrari who is actually part of Fiat, but I think that data was "derived" out of this "study" because it did not support the predetermined "conclusion". Keep in mind this supposed to be a study of manufacturing groups, NOT automotive brands.) Back to the winning cars.....we're talking about cars that AVERAGE a hefty 2500 - 2600 pounds, in the case of Fiat. That is 300+ pounds LESS that a Prius or Civic Hybrid. We're talking pretty small cars here. Cars with a little as 50-60 HP. That is LESS than the Prius's electric motor ONLY, and with about 1/5th the torque, too!

Keep that in mind if all those CO2-reducing feats are attempted to be repeated in the US, you may be surprised what happens after they get all the US emission regulations and "safety enhancements" added on. That said, you can STILL get a lot more fuel efficiency by getting rid of the some of the overreaching govt' and "safety weenie" mandated piggishness out of the cars available in the US today.

This is turning into a rant, so I won't go on about how all other technologies like diesels will also be shown to be less efficient once they show up across the board in the US due to the aforementioned extra regulations Then the naysayers will say "See, I told you diesels were not the answer".

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I really don't see why people need a study like this to see that German cars pollute the most in Europe. The reason for this is that it is basically due to inferior German technology. All you have to do is take your pick of any of hundreds of European car magazines and go to the new car price/specs section. What you will find is something like this:

COMPACT CARS

Peugeot 308 2.0 HDi:
146 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,5 l/100 km
136 bhp
22500 euros
EURONCAP 5 stars (score of 35)

FIAT BRAVO 1.9 MULTIJET:
149 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,6 l/100 km
150 bhp
22300 euros
EURONCAP 5 stars (score of 33)

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 2.0 TDI SPORT (the 1.9 is totally wiped out by the above cars)
156 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,9 l/100 km
170 bhp
28000 euros
EURONCAP 5 stars (score of 33)

AUDI A3 2.0 TDI
149 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,7 l/100 km
140 bhp
30000 euros (you must be kidding)
EURONCAP 4 stars (score of 29)

CITROEN C4 2.0 HDi
142 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,4 l/100 km
136 bhp
24300 euros
EURONCAP 5 stars (score of 35)

When you outperform your competitor in fuel efficiency, emissions, safety, bhp AND comfortably outprice them, well the numbers are eloquent enough. This is really just a technology issue. The exact same pattern above repeats itself when you compare VW Passats or BMW 3 series with a Renault Laguna, Peugeot 405, Alfa 159 or Fiat Croma: you are paying consistently more (often much more) for a car which is less efficient, pollutes more and consistently earns lower ratings at EURONCAP for safety. The reason for this is that it's not just the same technology used across the different car segments - more and more the exact same engines are used (anyone notice the barrel price today?) The HDi and Multijet engine technology is exported today to GM, Swedish, Japanese cars, etc. Take a look also at the Fiat 500 which today was elected European Car of the Year: it already won the world car body award, got a whopping 5-star rating from the EURONCAP safety tests and the 1.3 multijet emits some 119 g/km CO2 for 12600 euros. Not only does it beat the BMW mini in safety (the Fiat scored 35 and BMW 33), but the BMW is almost given away at at a mere 21200 euros (which is the price of a Peugeot 407).

In my opinion the German sales tend to rely too much on nationalism (compare national market shares in Germany and Italy) and marketing. If I'm right, then, with time, simple economics, environmental policies and natural disasters are going to affect the German carmakers much more than the French or Italians.

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Examples of German carmakers buying French and Italian engine technology:

-Fiat Iveco (trucks) signed a deal in June worth 2.4 billion euros to supply truck engines to Daimler.

-The BMW 1.4 and 1.6 petrol engines are supplied to BMW by Peugeot.

-Opel diesels are supplied by Fiat Powertrain.

Try as I may, I have been unable to find examples of technology or production flowing in the opposite direction.

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There is no reason to assume the Ferrari data was not included. The issue is in any case irrelevant as Ferrari do not mass-produce cars (some 5000 produced last year for the entire planet - compare this with Porsche in Europe alone), which means their figures can't even make a dent on these averages.

I think what you want to do is compare mass-produced cars against each other. In the case of SUVs this means comparing for example the German SUVs against the itsy-bitsy Fiat Sedici and the Fiat Panda 4x4:

VW Touareg: 267-375 g/km CO2 (depending on model)
Mercedes M: 249-392. Mercedes GL: 264-336.
Porsche Cayenne: 310-358. Audi Q7: 260-350.

Fiat Sedici : 173-174. Fiat Panda 4x4: 156.

Again, all the evidence suggests that in Europe the political acceptance of the high SUV costs (petrol, emissions, traffic, deaths) is waning and the SUVs at least here have their days numbered. I suspect in the end only those who really, REALLY needed a 4x4 will have one (I'm thinking along the lines of a government forestry worker or the like..)

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Let's calculate something else from the stats: emissions per kilometer per kilogram of car! :-)

Germans cars emit 0,116 g/(km*kg) CO2 (that's grams of C02 per kilometer for each kilogram of the car.)

Same figure for french + italian cars is 0,114.

That's a difference of whopping 1,6%. That is more than adequately explained by greater performance of german cars. So there's no great inferior technology issues here or nothing. It just takes certain amount of gasoline / diesel to move around certain mass of car.

Germans make larger cars, so their CO2/km is bigger than french plus italys. However, since the their performance is much better than french + italys, and technology is also high, they emit about the same CO2 per kilometer per kilogram of car.

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I've never really bought a quarter of half a car, so I haven't really tried this. What I have done, out of interest, is multiply the CO2 figure by the price (recall that the lower the CO2 the better, and for most people the lower the price the better also), and, oh boy, this is something to really laugh about!

(1000s, the lower the better)
AUDI A3: 4470
CITROEN C4: 3451
FIAT BRAVO: 3323
VW GOLF: 4368

Truly yummy!

It is quite false that German cars weigh more or have greater hp (or any kind of performance measure for that matter):
for example for these same cars we have -

AUDI A3: 1380 kg 140 bhp
CITROEN C4: 1381 kg 136 bhp
FIAT BRAVO: 1360 kg 150 bhp
VW GOLF: 1366 kg 170 bhp

As you can see the cars weigh pretty much the same. My point above however was that there isn't a performance trade-off between German and French or Italian cars. As mentioned before I couldn't even put the 1.9 litre Golf against the Peugeot or the Fiat so I put the 2.0 litre.

I think one needs to more specific than "higher performance" and give some concrete examples as well. You would normally expect some kind of trade-off I think. For the same capacity engine, if I have more hp than another car, perhaps the other is better in fuel efficiency and emissions, right? Wrong. As it turns out for the same capacity engine the French and Italian cars have a greater horsepower AND efficiency AND emissions and safety rating. OK then, so you say "well you're cheating, right? I bet you're pitting two cars against each other, where the one with the better performances in all areas costs twice what the other one costs"
Sadly not. I'm afraid it's the other way around.

As I said Germans are pretty much forced to use French and Italian technology (BMW mini, Daimler trucks, Opel, Campers, BMW motorbikes, etc). People familiar with the German mentality (especially when it comes to cars) will agree that a German company must really be facing no other choice before doing something like this.

Still on technology, Ferrari was brought up earlier. The commonplace assumption today is that F1 represents the pinnacle of motor sport technology on the track today. Perhaps not everyone has heard, but this year Mclaren Mercedes F1 team was handed down a record $100 million fine from FIA for stealing and using the Ferrari F1 spec - and not the other way around. Admittedly this year has been a bit "special", but over the years Italian and French manufacturers have collected the constructors' championship 15 and 8 times, compared with 1 title for a German manufacturer (i.e. once from 1958 to today), I suspect we could have sent someone to Mars with what Mercedes and BMW have spent over the years....

Another important difference between French, Italian and German manufacturers comes to mind. A few years ago Mercedes introduced a new car called the Class A. In Scandinavia the cars underwent a standard car test known as the Moose Test. Out of 3 trials the car failed on all occasions and the car was recalled. The car was reintroduced (and this was a brilliant piece of marketing) with something called ESP. I've tried really hard to look at the various models, but it seems to me that never in the French or Italian automotive history have these countries actually produced a car that would actually kill you because of serious design flaws (the car basically toppled over and didn't like curves very much).

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You're cherry-picking cars for half-assed comparisons (Panda vs. Touareg, wtf?). I just bunked your argument by pointing out that there's no real difference between the countries in _cars of the same size_.

Of course if you make comparisons of single models without rhyme or reason, the numbers will show whatever you want them to show. Audi is a luxury brand, while Fiat is a brand of small and poor-quality vehicles.

The only real difference is the relative size of the cars, for which mass of the car is pretty good indicator, not technology like you claim. Autobloggreen even reported on this sometime back. Car manufacturers aren't much different in same car segments.

It's just that people don't want big peugeots or citreons, because those car manufacturers don't know how to make full-size cars or SUVs (that's why citroens and peugeots suv is made by mitsubishi). That's why they are better in overall emissions. But they aren't any more efficient in moving mass around on wheels. That's what the emissions per kilogram number meant.

And the price thing. Um, people pay for Audis interiors, performance and handling. All of which are crap in french brands. The work is just sloppy, and nobody I know would consider those brands. Werent's the french manufacturers in trouble for a while now, while BMW and Audi are increasing sales for Nth year in a row?

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Oh, and in case you're confused, let's compare performance / emissions:

BMW 335d M-sport 3L diesel, sedan
286 hp, 6,2s 0-62
Emissions: 177 g/km

Peugeot 407 2,7L diesel, sedan
205 hp, 8,5 s 0-62
Emissions: 226g/km

Really impressive .. 80 less horses, 50 g more emissions .. you see, we can compare these all night.

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Looks like to me like the only cherry-picking here is when you try to compare a 286 hp car with one with 205 hp. Or to ignore the fact, already shown, that cars of the same class in fact weigh the same. Can someone also explain, please, why there are at least six cases of Germans being forced to use French and Italian engines on their cars, and never the other way around?
I can't believe you're actually pitting a 2.7 litre engine against a 3-litre one with a price difference of 16000 euros (which is more than what the average car in Europe costs today). I was talking about comparing engines of the same size.

Of course the Fiat Sedici is a small SUV, but these are the only ones likely to survive (if any) in the current European political climate. My point in any case is that, though difficult to compare, this was a lot easier or fairer than trying to put Ferrari into the equation. As an example, the latest Ferrari model, the FXX is being produced in only 20 specimens, thus having no influence on these averages. The same can't be said, however, for the German SUVs.

Let's try to compare cars of the same segment and same engine size, shall we? I've already made this quite clear for the compact segment. The makers use the same technology for all segments, i.e. small, compact, sedan or station wagon, and the results shown above are the same for whatever segment.

Let's compare then two sedans of the SAME ENGINE SIZE (2 litres in both cases) and similar price range:

VW Passat 2.0 TDI
140 hp 209 km/h
154 CO2
euroncap score of 34 (2005)
28600 euros

Renault Laguna 2.0 dCi
150 hp 215 km/h
153 CO2
euroncap score of 34 (2003)
27900 euros

I'd venture to say that to compare two diesel sedans of the same size is a lot fairer than comparing a 2.7 diesel sedan with a 3.0 litre which costs only 16000 euros more.

So what do we have? The German car has inferior hp AND speed AND emissions AND price. Note also that these euroncap ratings were quite common from 2005 onwards, but in 2003 this wasn't the case yet.
I think people will agree that if the VW Passat is inferior in ALL performances, then surely it costs les, right? As you can see above, this is not the case.

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oops, I forgot the fuel efficiency:
Passat 5.9 l/km & Laguna 5.8 l/km (AND inferior fuel efficiency)

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Why did you choose those?

There's a 170 hp Passat available that produces 160 g/km versus renault lagunas 158. Reasonable for 20 extra horsepower compared to the laguna.

And if you're going with automatic transmission, Passat produces 172 g/versus lagunas 185 g/km. Yup, they really got some great technology.

And let's compare cars of same price, let's say executive cars, for which the germans are better known: Citroen C6 diesel vd. Mercedes E320 CDI:

C6 2,7HDi exclusive
208 hp, 325 ftlbs torque
230 g/km emissions
32,5 mpg (british)
38000 £

E320 CDI
224 hp, 398 torque
202 g/km emissions
38,7 mpg
37,700 £

What does it matter if the engine is larger, if it gets better power with smaller emissions. The merc wins in all categories, and doesn't require any executive to be seen in a Citroen. Well, now I did get into the pissing contest but what the hell.

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Why did you choose those?

There's a 170 hp Passat available that produces 160 g/km versus renault lagunas 158. Reasonable for 20 extra horsepower compared to the laguna.

And if you're going with automatic transmission, Passat produces 172 g/versus lagunas 185 g/km. Yup, they really got some great technology.

And let's compare cars of same price, let's say executive cars, for which the germans are better known: Citroen C6 diesel vd. Mercedes E320 CDI:

C6 2,7HDi exclusive
208 hp, 325 ftlbs torque
230 g/km emissions
32,5 mpg (british)
38000 £

E320 CDI
224 hp, 398 torque
202 g/km emissions
38,7 mpg
37,700 £

What does it matter if the engine is larger, if it gets better power with smaller emissions. The merc wins in all categories, and doesn't require any executive to be seen in a Citroen. Well, now I did get into the pissing contest but what the hell.

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Why did you choose those?

There's a 170 hp Passat available that produces 160 g/km versus renault lagunas 158. Reasonable for 20 extra horsepower compared to the laguna.

And if you're going with automatic transmission, Passat produces 172 g/versus lagunas 185 g/km. Yup, they really got some great technology.

And let's compare cars of same price, let's say executive cars, for which the germans are better known: Citroen C6 diesel vd. Mercedes E320 CDI:

C6 2,7HDi exclusive
208 hp, 325 ftlbs torque
230 g/km emissions
32,5 mpg (british)
38000 £

E320 CDI
224 hp, 398 torque
202 g/km emissions
38,7 mpg
37,700 £

What does it matter if the engine is larger, if it gets better power with smaller emissions. The merc wins in all categories, and doesn't require any executive to be seen in a Citroen. Well, now I did get into the pissing contest but what the hell.

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emissions per kilogram:

Laguna: 1420 kg. Passat:1454 kg.
As alredy pointed when you go to a showroom you buy a car, not half a car and not 2/3 of a car. So that emissions/kg is clearly pointless. However should you be really interested in this figure (???) from the weight above you have: 0.1077 for Peugeot, and 0.1059 for Volkswagen !

Arbitrary statements regarding AUDI high performances and FIAT being of poor are quite useless. Audi performance and handling? The Audi A3 performance/price figures are given above and are the worst of the German cars. Technology and quality are linked solely to quantifiable things like the figures shown. In areas such as reliability, the Class A Mercedes has gone where no French or Italian car has gone before.

Sales is not a 1:1 indication of performance, just like SUVs may be trendy or SMART easily goes from popularity to near-bankruptcy. In any case the German market sales figures this year have been dismal. According to the European association ACEA, for January-October 2007, the largest German groups, VW and Daimler (which includes Mercedes) have actually dropped their sales 0.6 and 0.8 % compared with 2006. The largest French and Italian groups, Peugeot and Fiat, have improved 0.3 and 6.7 %.

But you ain't seen nothing yet. Today petrol prices hit 98 dollars in NY. The German marketing (or propaganda) push has done wonders for their car industry. When petrol hits these prices and with the general economic climate being rather unstable, well even marketing has it's limits. Keep this in ind as you watch the German car sales figures in the coming years.

I'm not really sure if the correct term is marketing or propaganda. In all car segments German carmakers manage to be inferior in ALL performance factors AND have a heftier price tag. Despite this we are bombarded every day with ads about "German technology".
Almost every other day a German prototype is unveiled, promising to be the greenest car ever, but then:

(1) we are presented with tables like the above
(2) when it comes to pass an EU emissions legislation to protect the environment, the German car lobby actually BLOCKED the ruling. Thankfully the French government is trying to hold back the group from putting German interests before those of Europe and the Environment and trying to cover up their technological inferiority. Remember that it's the Germans, not the French or Italians, who are blocking the EU auto emissions policy.

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emissions per kilogram:

Laguna: 1420 kg. Passat:1454 kg.
As alredy pointed when you go to a showroom you buy a car, not half a car and not 2/3 of a car. So that emissions/kg is clearly pointless. However should you be really interested in this figure (???) from the weight above you have: 0.1077 for Peugeot, and 0.1059 for Volkswagen !

Arbitrary statements regarding AUDI high performances and FIAT being of poor are quite useless. Audi performance and handling? The Audi A3 performance/price figures are given above and are the worst of the German cars. Technology and quality are linked solely to quantifiable things like the figures shown. In areas such as reliability, the Class A Mercedes has gone where no French or Italian car has gone before.

Sales is not a 1:1 indication of performance, just like SUVs may be trendy or SMART easily goes from popularity to near-bankruptcy. In any case the German market sales figures this year have been dismal. According to the European association ACEA, for January-October 2007, the largest German groups, VW and Daimler (which includes Mercedes) have actually dropped their sales 0.6 and 0.8 % compared with 2006. The largest French and Italian groups, Peugeot and Fiat, have improved 0.3 and 6.7 %.

But you ain't seen nothing yet. Today petrol prices hit 98 dollars in NY. The German marketing (or propaganda) push has done wonders for their car industry. When petrol hits these prices and with the general economic climate being rather unstable, well even marketing has it's limits. Keep this in ind as you watch the German car sales figures in the coming years.

I'm not really sure if the correct term is marketing or propaganda. In all car segments German carmakers manage to be inferior in ALL performance factors AND have a heftier price tag. Despite this we are bombarded every day with ads about "German technology".
Almost every other day a German prototype is unveiled, promising to be the greenest car ever, but then:

(1) we are presented with tables like the above
(2) when it comes to pass an EU emissions legislation to protect the environment, the German car lobby actually BLOCKED the ruling. Thankfully the French government is trying to hold back the group from putting German interests before those of Europe and the Environment and trying to cover up their technological inferiority. Remember that it's the Germans, not the French or Italians, who are blocking the EU auto emissions policy.

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emissions per kilogram:

Laguna: 1420 kg. Passat:1454 kg.
As alredy pointed when you go to a showroom you buy a car, not half a car and not 2/3 of a car. So that emissions/kg is clearly pointless. However should you be really interested in this figure (???) from the weight above you have: 0.1077 for Peugeot, and 0.1059 for Volkswagen !

Arbitrary statements regarding AUDI high performances and FIAT being of poor are quite useless. Audi performance and handling? The Audi A3 performance/price figures are given above and are the worst of the German cars. Technology and quality are linked solely to quantifiable things like the figures shown. In areas such as reliability, the Class A Mercedes has gone where no French or Italian car has gone before.

Sales is not a 1:1 indication of performance, just like SUVs may be trendy or SMART easily goes from popularity to near-bankruptcy. In any case the German market sales figures this year have been dismal. According to the European association ACEA, for January-October 2007, the largest German groups, VW and Daimler (which includes Mercedes) have actually dropped their sales 0.6 and 0.8 % compared with 2006. The largest French and Italian groups, Peugeot and Fiat, have improved 0.3 and 6.7 %.

But you ain't seen nothing yet. Today petrol prices hit 98 dollars in NY. The German marketing (or propaganda) push has done wonders for their car industry. When petrol hits these prices and with the general economic climate being rather unstable, well even marketing has it's limits. Keep this in ind as you watch the German car sales figures in the coming years.

I'm not really sure if the correct term is marketing or propaganda. In all car segments German carmakers manage to be inferior in ALL performance factors AND have a heftier price tag. Despite this we are bombarded every day with ads about "German technology".
Almost every other day a German prototype is unveiled, promising to be the greenest car ever, but then:

(1) we are presented with tables like the above
(2) when it comes to pass an EU emissions legislation to protect the environment, the German car lobby actually BLOCKED the ruling. Thankfully the French government is trying to hold back the group from putting German interests before those of Europe and the Environment and trying to cover up their technological inferiority. Remember that it's the Germans, not the French or Italians, who are blocking the EU auto emissions policy.

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The Passat costs 32000 euros, or 34000 with the transmission you mention. The Laguna 27900. With over 6000 euros difference?? Wouldn't you find it a little ridiculous if in comparing the Laguna against the Passat, I actually threw in a helicopter with the Laguna (forget about the price difference) and REALLY improved efficiencies???

I think it's quite clear why the Renault and Passat are a good comparison, same engine size and type, same price (well almost, the Passat loses there as well).

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Well, you're bent on comparing the 140 hp 2.0 diesel, while there's 170 hp version with practically the same emissions in the VAG group.

Yes, I know you're not going to buy 2/3s of a car, but I've already pointed out the usefulness of the figure: people like big cars. That figure tells us how efficiency scales with size. In german cars it scales better than french.

And how about those C6 vs. Merc comparison figures? What you've argued succesfully is that the 140 hp engine from VAG is a dud. 170 hp one isn't (by the numbers anyway), and the french get spanked in the larger engine class (C6 vs. Merc figures, above).

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I'm bent on comparing the 140 hp ???? Since when do people compare apples and oranges? This is confirming my suspicions about the intellectual "malleability" of the consumer group for German cars.

Let's do this step by step. To make a fair comparison we want to take two cars with either the same or similar engine size, the same engine type, and the same or similar price. You don't compare cars that are in a completely different price bracket."Why not?" I hear you ask "Why not? I really, really want to...".

Well, Dr Watson, let's take Car A and Car B (that's two different cars). The same customer has given you 20000 euros to build a 2.0 litre diesel sedan, Car A, whilst giving me 30000 euros to accomplish the exact same task for Car B. Then you of course protest because, unless I pocket the full 10000 euro difference, Car B has a whole lot of extra dindin to be spent on better systems and, as a consequence, improving the important specs.

A car can't make claims against another which costs 6000 or 16000 euros less (which is what you have done - and in the case of the BMW a car which costs 60% more). Take note however that the converse is not true. If, despite costing less, a car still outperforms the other in ALL performance parameters... well, then that's a real boo-boo

Look again at these two examples:

COMPACT

AUDI A3 2.0 TDI
149 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,7 l/100 km
140 bhp
30000 euros (you must be kidding)
EURONCAP 4 stars (score of 29)

CITROEN C4 2.0 HDi
142 g/km CO2
average fuel consumption 5,4 l/100 km
136 bhp
24300 euros
EURONCAP 5 stars (score of 35)


SEDANS

VW Passat 2.0 TDI
140 hp 209 km/h
154 CO2
euroncap score of 34 (2005)
28600 euros

Renault Laguna 2.0 dCi
150 hp 215 km/h
153 CO2
euroncap score of 34 (2003)
27900 euros

So, to clarify again, the reason you take this Passat and not your 170 hp model is that the 170 costs 6000 euros more. The 140 Passat "only" costs 700 euros more, so this is the natural choice (aka same price bracket). Why "only?" Well, since the Passat is inferior in both hp AND CO2 AND fuel efficiency, well logically the price maybe should a good deal less.... it's this lose-lose situation that I'm getting at...


Another point about the "malleability" of the consumer group for German cars. When I checked the ACEA website I noticed that Smart this year have dropped 15% in sales in Europe up to October. In 2006 SMART dropped a mere 22% in sales across Europe compared with 2005. These figures are compounded, which means that if the trend this continues through to December, sales have fallen 33% since 2005 (33% mind you, not 3.3).

But how can SMART sales have fallen to the extent that Europeans don't even want to go near one anymore? I would put down such a huge variation to a car which has a very high reliance on marketing, an absurd price, and which technically leaves a lot to be desired. The marketing bubble burst. Poof!

The BMW Mini is admittedly doing better. Then again it has the Peugeot engine, which should make this bubble last longer...

I'm quite content for the Germans to monopolize the SUV and executive cars. There is no technology involved in making 9-tonne vehicles with 600 hp. Besides, sedans and station wagons are already going to have a tough time meeting the new EU standards. The SUVs and execs have no chance of doing this.

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"Yes, I know you're not going to buy 2/3s of a car, but I've already pointed out the usefulness of the figure: people like big cars. That figure tells us how efficiency scales with size. In german cars it scales better than french."

The CO2/weight figure is totally useless. Let's try to say this simply. What people want to know and should know is if they buy a certain Car A (e.g. a 2.0 litre diesel sedan) then does this car emit more or less than Car B (another 2.0 litre diesel sedan).

Today in Europe every car showroom has the CO2 figures displayed for each car. They do not show a CO2/weight figure as this has no usefulness and is utterly stupid. In other words, such a figure will never displayed in European showrooms.

You already have above a list of German cars and some French and Italian equivalents, together with their weights. As you can see, cars of the same segment weigh the same:
Laguna: 1420 kg. Passat:1454 kg.

AUDI A3: 1380 kg, CITROEN C4: 1381 kg, FIAT BRAVO: 1360 kg, VW GOLF: 1366 kg

The CO2 figures however are NOT the same but are in favor of the French and Italian cars, so the Germans have the worst ratio anyway (because they have the same weight but the worst CO2 figures).

Perhaps people like big cars in the US. This is most certainly not true in Europe, where the vast majority of cars are small or compacts. Recall that this article was about CO2 emissions in Europe. CO2 emissions in the US aren't even a real issue. Just how big cars get over there I don't think is particularly interesting.

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