Posted on 01/11/2007 7:04:24 PM PST by blam
4x4s to be priced off the road
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
Last Updated: 2:41am GMT 12/01/2007
Gas-guzzling sports cars, 4x4s and people carriers could be priced off the road within five years after a crackdown on carbon emissions to be announced by the European Commission this month.
The average new car in 2012 will have to emit no more than 120 grams of carbon per kilometre under proposals to be announced by Stavros Dimas, the European Environment Commissioner.
Under threat: 4x4s parked on a residential street in London
He said yesterday that they were needed because of the failure of European car makers to keep to a voluntary agreement signed in 1998 to reduce emissions by 25 per cent by 2008. They have managed 13 per cent and the agreement ends next year.
The Citroen C3 diesel emits exactly 120 grams of carbon per kilometre — the average that the European Commission will set as a legal requirement for every car manufacturer's range in 2012. A supercharged Range Rover Sport V8 emits 376 grams and a five-door petrol Ford Focus 1.6 emits 184 —which indicates the degree of progress required to meet the new standard.
The hybrid petrol-electric Toyota Prius — regarded as one of the greenest cars on the market — produces 104 g/km.
Car manufacturers said the proposals, which apply only to new cars, would prove devastating for stand-alone sports car builders, such as Porsche, and specialist manufacturers such as Land Rover.
Mr Dimas insisted that they would not be forced out of business. The way he sees the legislation working is that manufacturers would subsidise cheaper, volume family cars and pass the increased costs of developing new, low-emission vehicles on to the buyers of more polluting cars.
This is what is already believed to happen with Toyota, which effectively subsidises the Prius, which entered the market at around £16,000 whereas the true cost of producing it is far more. The extra cost is passed on to luxury models in its range.
Mr Dimas said that the five year introduction period would give manufacturers time to invest in the technology to produce low-emission cars from lighter materials which were already practicable.
Mr Dimas said that Gu(with umlaut)nter Verheugen, (ck) the anti-red-tape German Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry accepted that regulation was now inevitable if Europe was to meet its commitments on tackling climate change.
The measures are just some of the radical moves Mr Dimas has announced over the past two months.
Others include a 20 per cent reduction in Europe's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, tougher curbs on industry and the inclusion of aviation within the EU's carbon trading scheme.
The new proposals, to be set out in two weeks time, will need to be approved by ministers and the European Parliament, which could take three years. They will then have to be translated into law in the 25 member states.
Controversially, the new legislation will also apply to Japanese, American and other manufacturers who export cars to Europe.
The tax measures and financial incentives to help consumers and manufacturers achieve the new targets will be up to individual countries, he said.
The Dutch for example give tax incentives which make it more attractive to buy low emission cars.
Sigrid Devries, a spokesman for ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, said: "This would make cars prohibitively expensive. The Commission's own studies show that it would add 5,000 euros to the price of a car and manufacturers would have to move production outside Europe.
"This is not a done deal. There is a lot of opposition to this within the Commission itself."
Nigel Wonnacott of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said: "Most manufacturers would move production east if this came into force. There will be tough times ahead for British sports car and luxury car makers."
Jeremy Clarkson, the presenter of BBC's Top Gear, said the idea of averaging the emissions of a manufacturer's range was identical to that used for cars in the United States where many loopholes exist. For example, sports utility vehicles are exempt because they are classed as trucks.
He said: "I would anticipate that a lot of car manufacturers will start making bicycles. There will be a Lamborghini bicycle, a Peugeot bicycle, a Ferrari bicycle and a BMW bicycle.
"My theory is they will say, Look, these are all zero emissions and get out of it that way."
An industry source said: "We have seen an awful lot of grumbling before over proposals and whether manufacturers could possibly meet them.
"The best example of what technology can do when it has to is 1939. The Royal Air Force went into battle with biplanes but within five years they had jet engines."
this is exactly the model the left wants for the US - and california will be the first place that makes this move.
in the US, if you want to buy a car that exceeds the threshold - you will have to buy a yearly carbon credit for it.
UPS goes first.
Might be Church activity vans or busses that go first.
California's RINO governor is leading a similar charge here.
Incentive to develop the fuel cell, natural gas or electric Hummer.
What's off-road in EU anyway- those faggy dells, glens, bogs, fens and moors?
They sure don't have anything like our Monument Valley.
42 mpg requirement? Well my Dodge Ram 2500 would not quite make it... I generally get 8 to 10 mpg.
Thanks for doing the math on this one!
UPS goes first in California - everywhere else is OK.
Right on- or badlands, death valley, salt flats, ad damn near infinitum.
Nothing to do but laugh at this.
anyway,
BMW already sells incredible high end bicycles, they don't manufacture them though... https://shop.bmwgroup.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/EUR/BMWFrameSet-Start;?CategoryName=LIFE
They also sell a collapsible bike for urban use that is the damn lightest bike I've ever used.
http://www.montagueco.com/aboutuspartners.html is the manufacturer of BMW mountain bikes. Got their start from a DARPA grant to build a tactical bicycle for Marines.
Ah..."voluntary" means, well, voluntary. So why are car makers being punished? The Freeper who said something along the line of how this isn't so much about pollution, but more like a power grab by EU bureaucrats had it dead to right.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Well sadly, its a policy our 'conservative' party endorse.
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