French car industry breaks ranks on EU CO2 targets
Tue 16 October 2007
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The CCFA, France's motor industry trade body - the equivalent of the UK's SMMT - says that French car makers are ahead in the race to reduce CO2 emissions and that it does not support proposals to differentiate 2012 CO2 emissions targets on the basis of vehicle weight.
The French position represents a split in ACEA which had previously proposed that CO2 targets should be differentiated between manufacturers on the basis of vehicle weight in order not to disadvantage companies which have historically produced larger, less fuel efficient cars.
A paper on the French car industry's environmental position, available through a link from the CCFA website's home page, says that vehicles sold into the French market in 2006 were, on average, below 150g/km for the first time; well below the German and UK markets. Moreover, French makes are well-positioned to supply the market with low carbon vehicles; they represented 79% of vehicles emitting less than 120g/km and 61% of those between 120 and 140g/km.
The paper says that French car makers prefer an absolute value for CO2 emissions without any corrections for the weight of the vehicle. Any correction for weight, they say, would lighten the burden for heavy and powerful vehicles and, as a consequence, penalise small cars with low CO2 emissions.
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