Targets for reducing CO2 emissions need to be better defined by politicians and a proper penalties and rewards system set up to encourage companies to meet those targets, according to Ford of Britain chairman Roelant de Waard.
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“We need to take emotion out of the equation,” he said, pointing out that petrol-electric hybrids are not a cost effective solution and the current UK exemptions for hybrids are sending out a false message.
“The car industry has reduced CO2 emissions by 40% over the last 15 years and we are now getting into the laws of diminishing returns for our efforts,” he said.
He believes that part of the problem is that every time CO2 is discussed in the media, car exhaust pipes are used to illustrate the problem, not smoking industrial stacks.
He wants the government to define the targets but not how to achieve them. “There are breakthrough technologies to develop – capturing carbon is one – but we can’t develop it until we know the rewards.
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By GlobalData“I understand the political dilemma and that governments won’t get re-elected by telling people something is going to cost more but we have to have proposals that make sense to the electorate.”
De Waard was speaking after revealing that the new Fiesta ECOnetic, which emits just 98g/km of CO2 making it cleaner than existing hybrids, will cost GBP11,845 when it goes on sale in Britain towards the end of this year.
His views echoed those of Fiat group CEO Sergio Marchionne who earlier this year said that the European Commission’s plan to set carbon dioxide emission limits based on a sliding scale is “nonsense.”
The EC is proposing that combined average CO2 emissions, currently at about 160g/km, are reduced to 130g/km by 2012 and 64g/km by 2050. The law would require each company to lower its own CO2 emission average by 60% over that period.
Luxury car manufacturers said the rule places an unfair burden on them because their vehicles have relatively high emissions. Ford, Fiat and PSA argue that their predominantly small cars already emit relatively little CO2, making further reductions more difficult than for large-car manufacturers.
Last year CO2 emissions from Fiat vehicles were deemed the lowest of all automakers selling cars in Europe at 137 g/km, according to researcher Jato Dynamics.
Marchionne reckoned Fiat would have to reach a limit of 122g/km by 2012 to meet the proposed EC standard.
