BMW has biggest reduction in CO2 of any major automaker
German automakers like BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche have been at the forefront of battling the proposed EU carbon dioxide emissions limits. Those manufacturers have traditionally had among the highest fuel consumption averages because of all the high performance cars they build. In spite of that, BMW actually had the greatest reduction in CO2 emissions from its fleet in 2007. BMW's fleet average fuel consumption dropped by 7.3 percent from 2006 to 2007 and its CO2 emissions went from 184 g/km to 170 g/km. The average improvement for all the big manufacturers was only 1.7 percent. That's still well above the 158 g/km average for all large manufacturers and the 130 g/km target for 2012. Nonetheless it shows the progress that's possible even without sacrificing too much performance capability. BMW has already declared that it will not pursue building supercars instead focusing on more efficient powertrains. Hyundai and Daimler also made significant improvements of 3.9 and 3.5 percent respectively. The final form of the new regulations are still being debated and are scheduled for a vote in the European Parliament's Environment Committee on Sept. 8-9.
[Source: European Federation for Transport and Environment]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Karl-Uwe Strunzen 10:20PM (8/28/2008)
i think this is a very misleading title, which should be telling us instead who is closest to the targets....
when you're the worst-in-class (not to mention with the kind of margins bmw makes) of course your improvements, as a percentage, are going to be higher (assuming you make an improvement)
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1011 8:32AM (8/29/2008)
Next to Mirko's mentioned best-in-class fuel consumption, BMW is currently having the lowest margin among premium manufacturers.
Mirko 4:18AM (8/29/2008)
@Karl-Uwe
when you're the worst-in-class
BMW is best-of-class in most classes they are in.
There's no 3-series competitor with better fuel economy than 1 318d, no 5-series competitor more efficient than a 520d, no 7-series competitor more efficient than a 730d... that list could go on forever.
Others have better fleet fuel economy because they make more subcompacts and microcars. If you compare inside a size class, it begins to look very different.
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Karl-Uwe Strunzen 2:52PM (8/29/2008)
The article is about CO2 manufacturer levels.
http://www.transportenvironment.org/docs/Publications/2007/2007-11_car_company_co2_report.pdf
According to the above official figures BMW and Daimler had the worst figures for CO2 out of all European manufacturers. This was also the case for 2007. As these are luxury cars, it is a very well known and documented fact that the margins are huge compared with other manufacturers.
The big-small argument is baseless. It's not a matter of seeing how many cars you make or don't make. It's as simple as pitting a German small car against ANY OTHER rival, and the results speak for themselves:
http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/how-to-use-the-data-tables.asp#petrol
Not a single German vehicle within the top 15, DESPITE costing more than their rivals? You don't find this even a little ridiculous?
Indeed at around the 15th position you only find the Smart, which only has 2 seats, but is still outdone by several 4-seaters.
What this list doesn't factor in is the vehicle price, which would make the picture even rosier
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Karl-Uwe Strunzen 3:56PM (8/29/2008)
"Others have better fleet fuel economy because they make more subcompacts and microcars."
This is false for several reasons:
- there is no such thing as a fleet fuel economy.
There is certainly such a thing as a fleet CO2 average (which is certainly realted to fuel economy, but
- the extremely high German CO2 figures are due to higher CO2 NO MATTER what class of car you are considering, as well as the number of SUVs etc sold.
German cars most certainly exist (VW polo, Golf, AUdi A3, Mercedes A class) and these also include the smallest.
However these have horrible emission figures compared with ANY RIVALS, DESPITE THEIR PRICETAGS:
http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/how-to-use-the-data-tables.asp#petrol
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