European Car Firms Face Pollution Curbs

by Jordan Yerman | February 7, 2007 at 08:33 am

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At first blush this is a sound proposal for both sides. The environment wins, as, ultimately, do the car manufacturers. After all, petrol shows no signs of getting less expensive, and fuel economy is a big selling point in Europe; particularly in the UK, where automakers cannot advertise the speeds of their cars.

The European Commission has proposed forcing carmakers to increase the fuel efficiency of new cars by 18%, by 2012.

It says it is planning legislation to ensure the average car emits no more than 130g of CO2 per kilometre, compared with 162g/km in 2005.

The car industry described the EU target as "arbitrary" and said it would lead to a loss of jobs and relocation of production overseas.

But environmentalists said the proposal did not go far enough.