xcel
03-04-2007, 10:16 PM
"Whomever labels us 'climate killers' has other motives". (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070304/UPDATE/703040354/1148/AUTO01)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_BMW_760Li.jpgAP - Mar. 4, 2007
BMW 7-Series (760Li). At 325g CO2/km, it is not even close to meeting the future European CO2 proposal of just 130 g/km.
BERLIN -- Leaders of Germany's auto industry rejected a recent rash of criticism that they lack initiative to build more environmentally friendly cars, saying in comments published Sunday they were working on new, fuel-efficient models.
Heavy lobbying from the industry, home to Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler and BMW, forced the European Union last month to water down a plan for emissions reductions and sparked a debate in Germany over the industry's role in fighting global warming.
The industry's resistance to the reduction efforts led German President Horst Koehler last week to criticize the nation's automakers for failing to take the initiative in building more ecologically friendly vehicles.
"A voluntary initiative (on the part of the auto industry) didn't happen," Koehler told Die Zeit weekly. "And the state didn't have the guts to make more strict guidelines."
But Martin Winterkorn, the chief executive of Volkswagen AG, noted in an interview with Der Spiegel weekly, German politicians penchant for the nation's largest vehicles.
"Politicians are among our best consumers," Winterkorn said. "And they don't usually drive our most fuel-efficient models."
Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking also rejected recent criticism of the industry, telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine's Sunday edition, "We are not litterbugs."
"Whomever labels us 'climate killers' has other motives," Wiedeking said, noting Porsche planned to bring out a hybrid version of its Chyenne SUV by the end of the decade.
Winterkorn also criticized the EU for its original plan to enforce a blanket emissions reduction by 2012, saying, "The European Commission was on the verge of endangering the future of an entire industry."
Such a regulation would have endangered all of the best-sellers in the German industry's fleet, from the Audi A8 to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class to BMW's 7 series.
"Only auto makers in Italy and France, which offer almost only compact cars, would have benefited," Winterkorn said.
The EU plan that passed calls for drafting of lower emissions limits -- of 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer -- for new cars sold or imported into the 27-nation union by 2012.
It also calls for increased use of biofuels and cleaner fossil fuels, meant to reduce current car emission levels by 25 percent -- even lower than the 130 gram limit.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_BMW_760Li.jpgAP - Mar. 4, 2007
BMW 7-Series (760Li). At 325g CO2/km, it is not even close to meeting the future European CO2 proposal of just 130 g/km.
BERLIN -- Leaders of Germany's auto industry rejected a recent rash of criticism that they lack initiative to build more environmentally friendly cars, saying in comments published Sunday they were working on new, fuel-efficient models.
Heavy lobbying from the industry, home to Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler and BMW, forced the European Union last month to water down a plan for emissions reductions and sparked a debate in Germany over the industry's role in fighting global warming.
The industry's resistance to the reduction efforts led German President Horst Koehler last week to criticize the nation's automakers for failing to take the initiative in building more ecologically friendly vehicles.
"A voluntary initiative (on the part of the auto industry) didn't happen," Koehler told Die Zeit weekly. "And the state didn't have the guts to make more strict guidelines."
But Martin Winterkorn, the chief executive of Volkswagen AG, noted in an interview with Der Spiegel weekly, German politicians penchant for the nation's largest vehicles.
"Politicians are among our best consumers," Winterkorn said. "And they don't usually drive our most fuel-efficient models."
Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking also rejected recent criticism of the industry, telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine's Sunday edition, "We are not litterbugs."
"Whomever labels us 'climate killers' has other motives," Wiedeking said, noting Porsche planned to bring out a hybrid version of its Chyenne SUV by the end of the decade.
Winterkorn also criticized the EU for its original plan to enforce a blanket emissions reduction by 2012, saying, "The European Commission was on the verge of endangering the future of an entire industry."
Such a regulation would have endangered all of the best-sellers in the German industry's fleet, from the Audi A8 to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class to BMW's 7 series.
"Only auto makers in Italy and France, which offer almost only compact cars, would have benefited," Winterkorn said.
The EU plan that passed calls for drafting of lower emissions limits -- of 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer -- for new cars sold or imported into the 27-nation union by 2012.
It also calls for increased use of biofuels and cleaner fossil fuels, meant to reduce current car emission levels by 25 percent -- even lower than the 130 gram limit.