European new car CO2 emissions fell 3.3% in 2008; car maker performance analysed in new report
Tue 15 September 2009
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A new report by Transport and Environment (T&E), the Brussels-based NGO, says that average new car emissions fell by an average of 3.3% across Europe in 2008 but that the performance of different car makers in cutting CO2 emissions varied significantly. Korean car makers leap-frogged over competitors from Europe and Japan but, as expected, ACEA failed to meet the 2008 targets which had been voluntarily agreed by 10g/km or more. The targets for JAMA and KAMA are for 2009.
The figures show that the average emissions of new cars sold in the UK last year fell by 4% in 2008, 0.7% better than the EC average (25 countries).
T&E's analysis shows that some companies were able to cut emissions significantly - BMW and Mazda led the field with 10% and 8.2% reductions respectively - but nine of the fourteen volume producers in the ranking achieved 4% or lower.
The report shows that progress was generally greater in the companies that were the furthest away from reaching the voluntary and new regulated targets at the beginning of the year. Companies with the lowest average emissions generally made the smallest percentage cuts in 2008.
T&E's director Jos Dings said: “The new EU law is already having an impact. If the overall drop in average CO2 emissions was purely related to the financial crisis, fuel prices or changing consumer behaviour, we would have expected to see every company reducing much more equally. But what is actually happening is that carmakers are seeing how far they have to cut and changing their fleets accordingly.”
To download the report and other related documents, please follow the associated links.
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