ACEA and voluntary CO2 notes in European car ads
There are certainly plenty of good reasons to standardize the terminology for a vehicle's CO2 emissions in advertising. Earlier this year, more than one company has gotten into a bit of hot water over misleading ads (see examples regarding Toyota and Lexus and Hummer) and it could certainly help buyers better understand how a potential new car would spew carbon compared to others if a standard label was applied to CO2 emissions. Europeans might soon get such a label. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACEA, is discussing voluntary codes that automakers could use in advertising that requires readers/viewers to easily identify a vehicle's CO2 emissions.
The codes are not going to be easy to develop. As ACEA spokeswoman Sigrid de Vries told Automotive News Europe (subs req'd), "It's a rather complex situation, with differences in each country according to national culture and tradition." The automakers will need to develop something, though, because the European Parliament recommended last month that automakers must "devote 20 percent of their broadcast, print and internet ads to tobacco-type warnings about the fuel consumption and carbon footprint of their cars," ANE reporter Tom Armitage writes. Just how clear these disclaimers will be is something we'll be looking forward to deciphering.
[Source: Automotive News Europe / Tom Armitage]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
steven 1:35PM (11/26/2007)
Maybe I've just not read the right postings but are the CO2 emission values simply a calculation based on fuel consumption or is there a testing procedure? It sounds like they are going to be as non-representative as the fuel consumption numbers we get now in the U.S. from the EPA. (It is a joke to call some of them fuel economy numbers.)
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Scatter 2:46PM (11/26/2007)
Steven the published figures come from the NEDC test cycle which is a combined urban / extra-urban cycle:
http://www.dieselnet.com/standards/cycles/ece_eudc.html
It generally comes out about 15% below real world driving.
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L1G 3:52PM (11/26/2007)
I remind you that these cycles are still without air conditioning system or any other consumers !
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rgseidl 8:44PM (11/26/2007)
I'm not sure what the fuss is about. The official NEDC certification tests for emissions and fuel economy already yield CO2 data. In fact, fuel consumption is typically computed from CO2 emissions rather than measured directly. What is more, CO2 data is already published in the small print.
It is also well-known that the NEDC is substantially too lenient relative to real-world driving. Right now would therefore be an excellent time to switch to a more representative drive cycle such as the CADC. Once the EU finalizes its legally binding procedures and targets for fleet average CO2 emissions, it will be much harder to make any adjustments to the fundamental drive cycle.
Unfortunately, EU Commissioners and national politicians have large egos and little knowledge of how exactly what they are trying to regulate is measured. Having put out a number of 120gCO2/km by MY2012, any higher number would be perceived as a climbdown by the equally ignorant press and general public. At this point, explaining this higher number refers to a more realistic test procedure would sadly cut little ice with anyone except industry insiders.
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