On 28 June, EU environment ministers unanimously backed a Commission plan that would force car manufacturers to implement steep cuts in vehicle emissions, but they failed to come any closer to agreeing on how the burden of these reductions should be spread out between makers of small and large models.
The issue divides the European car industry, pitting French and Italian manufacturers, which typically produce smaller, more fuel-efficient models, against manufacturers of large, luxury vehicles – mainly German and UK-based companies such as Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover.
While the former are already on track to meeting a 2008 target of 140g/km and want the tough standards to apply to individual manufacturers at fleet level, the latter say it is unfeasible to subject manufacturers of larger cars to the same standards as light-weight vehicles.
Carbon emissions from newly registered cars in Germany still averaged at 172.5 g/km in 2006. But German automakers insist that their cars simply respond to consumer demand for bigger, safer and more powerful cars and that it would be unfair to penalise them for it.
Since ministers failed to agree on suggestions for solving the dilemma, they will leave it up to the Commission to propose, said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency through the end of June. The Commission's proposals are due at the end of the year or early in 2008.
Meanwhile in Parliament, Rapporteur Chris Davies has just submitted a report that advocates "sharing the task between manufacturers", by setting separate targets for models, according to their size and the cost of achieving emission reductions, in order to take into account "the large variation in consumer preferences regarding passenger cars and the different composition of manufacturers' fleets".
On the other hand, the MEP has proposed banning all cars that go faster than 162 km per hour – 25% above the usual EU state limit – in a move that would signal an end for sports cars such as Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini (EurActiv 26/06/07).
