The European Commission’s proposal late last year that carmakers should cap their fleet average CO2 emissions at 130g/km by 2012 or else face heavy fines has caused uproar. A German government official was quoted at the time as saying: “Whatever motive led a majority of commissioners to decide this, we consider the solution to be wrong, very harmful and we will do everything to force changes.” Since then, many of the industry’s top executives have publically condemned the proposals, warning of the calamitous effects they say these rules could have, including thousands of potential job losses throughout Europe.
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It’s fair to say that the European car industry likes to complain, however. A good example of this was when changes were made to the distribution, retail and repair of motor vehicles in the EU as part the controversial ‘Block Exemption’ reform. The previous Block Exemption had been in place for 16 years and Europe’s OEMs made it clear that they did not want – or like – change.
In fact, such was their opposition that the European Commission chastised them for their ‘formidable’ resistance to the changes. But in 2002, amid histrionics that the opening up of vehicle distribution would create ‘mega-retailers’ of giant multi-brand car supermarkets, which would eradicate normal-sized distributors and thereby cause the loss of thousands of jobs, the new rules were brought in. Five years later, Block Exemption reform is widely considered to have been a success and has certainly not lead to the doomsday scenario predicted by many European car-makers.
That’s not to say that the industry is not justified this time for reacting angrily to the suggested emission legislation and for feeling that it has been targeted unfairly compared to other industries. If the Commission’s proposals are accepted (which is still far from certain) 2012 isn’t far away in car development lead-times, especially if carmakers are expected to lower their emissions by around 18% on average in that time to 130g/km.
However, just-auto has recently spoken to top executives at several different European car-makers, all of whom have said that they will in fact be able to meet the CO2 target, whether it’s set at 130g/km by 2012 as per the European Commission’s proposals (with a further 10g/km saving to be achieved through ‘supplementary’ measures) or at 125g/km by 2015, as per the European Parliament’s suggestion.
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By GlobalDataSome have made even bolder claims – PSA and Fiat have both declared their intention of becoming Europe’s cleanest carmaker by 2012. As well as speaking to top executives from Europe’s two cleanest carmakers of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Fiat, just-auto has probed Ford of Europe and General Motors Europe’s Saab brand on this issue.
A surprising air of confidence
“I certainly believe we will be able to meet the European emission limits,” says a bullish Gilles Michel, Managing Director of Citroën. “We have already launched all of the necessary programmes which will enable us to do this.” This air of confidence is replicated elsewhere.
“We at Ford have those technologies,” says Dr. Wolfgang Schneider, Ford of Europe’s Vice President of Environmental Affairs in response to the question of how Ford will meet the targets. “We will meet everything – we have plans in place.”
Daniele Chiari, Vice President of Product Portfolio Management at Fiat Auto joins him by saying: “We have the technologies available.”
Meanwhile, Kjell ac Bergström, Head of Powertrain at Saab discloses that Saab will be given an internal target from GM, which will be higher than the goal set by the Commission, but offset by GM’s brands which sell smaller and lower-emission cars than Saab. “We will manage to meet the target,” says Bergström.
Conventional optimised technologies lead the way, not alternative fuels or hybrids
All four executives explained that they are working on what some termed ‘optimised conventional technology,’ that is to say further improving the efficiency of cars with internal combustion engines.
Ford’s Dr. Schneider gave more detail: “We are working on optimised conventional technology, which has three elements. One is engine downsizing, meaning a smaller engine with equal performance. The second element is weight reduction through the use of more composite materials, such as aluminium and plastic. We’re going to be working very closely with our suppliers on this because we can’t do it on our own. The third element is drag resistance both inside and outside of the car. Making the cars more aerodynamic and even changing the oils and fluids we use inside the car. It’s a combination of these elements which will get us to 2012.”
Citroën’s Michel talked a similar story. “We will further improve the performance of our HDi [direct injection diesel] engines which we will complement with other pieces of technology to further lower emission rates,” says Michel. “The major, most significant one of these will be the Stop&Start device which will be implemented on most of Citroën’s product offer by the turn of this decade.”
Indeed in addition to engine downsizing, Stop&Start, which stops the engine automatically whenever the car comes to rest and is taken out of gear and then restarts it when the clutch pedal is pressed, was identified by almost all as a key ‘enabler’ of their CO2 reduction efforts.
Fiat’s Chiari said that a simple Stop&Start system will debut first on the Fiat 500 city car within the next 12 months and will then be rolled out on to most of the rest of the Fiat range, on both its gasoline and diesel engines. The first-generation will be a simple system, Chiari admitted, with more sophisticated versions, for example incorporating Brake Energy Regeneration, appearing in the future.
Saab’s Bergström said that Stop&Start would also feature heavily on future Saabs. Unlike certain other technologies – such as downsized engines and six-speed gearboxes – which will be fitted as standard in order to improve their fuel efficiency, Bergström said that customers would probably be willing to pay extra for Stop&Start because of the tangible fuel-saving benefits.
Only Wolfgang Schneider suggested that this technology could be further out on Ford’s cars, describing it as ‘a transition to the next step on the glide path between 2010 and 2020’. “You cannot continue with the same emissions until 2020 and then suddenly drop them, “explained Schneider. “You have to have a strategy which reduces emissions gradually. Microhybrids and more battery elements will be part of that strategy but so far we have no specific plans.”
In terms of other, more specific technologies, Daniele Chiari talked about Fiat’s recently-developed ‘Multiair’ technology as also being key to the Fiat Group’s future emissions reduction. This highly sophisticated electro-hydraulic valve actuation system will eventually be fitted to almost all of Fiat’s powertrains, allowing substantial downsizing, Chiari said.
Interestingly, only Citroën’s Gilles Michel and Saab’s Bergström included full hybrids in their plans. “Instead of one form of hybrid, there will be various forms,” said Michel. “We have major hybridisation programmes which will be due for launch in 2011.” Bergström suggested that the “Saab 9X BioHybrid” which was shown as a concept car at the recent Geneva Motor Show would eventually be launched, although not for several years and not in a version particularly similar to what was seen at the show. Ford’s Schneider on the other hand was quick to dismiss hybrids, describing them as ‘too niche’ still to play an important role in Ford’s short-term emission reductions.
Nor do alternative fuels feature particularly heavily in the carmakers’ plans. Schneider admitted that whilst Ford would like to sell more flex-fuel vehicles in Europe, “Ford is not relying on alternative fuel vehicles” to help lower its average emissions. Kjell ac Bergström had more to say on the subject, which is unsurprising given Saab’s position as the Europe’s top-seller of flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) capable of running on bioethanol E85 and gasoline.
Specifically, Bergström complained about the anomaly whereby ethanol’s greenhouse gas savings will be acknowledged by the European authorities when blended in low volumes with fossil fuels (e.g. E5 and E10) but there will be no recognition of their well-to-wheel emissions reduction in higher blends, specifically E85. “Frankly, we are a little pissed off that we are getting no support from Europe on this issue,” said Bergström. In fact, only Daniele Chiari referenced Fiat’s “good portfolio of alternative fuel powertrains, for example those that run on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)’ as important in Fiat’s bid be one of Europe’s cleanest carmakers,”. CNG is the preferred alternative fuel in Fiat’s home market of Italy where it costs around 60% less than gasoline, whilst the fuel also exists in some other key European markets, including Germany.
Rebecca Wright
