Consumers, carmakers wary of low-emissions vehicles
Europeans are apparently reluctant to pay what it costs to buy cars that meet new, more stringent carbon dioxide emissions standards. Carmakers seem equally reluctant to build and market such vehicles.
Even when carmakers produce cars that meet the proposed standard, consumers are slow to pay the higher prices charged for those cars. Two such vehicles, the Volkswagen Lupo and the Corsa Eco, were introduced in 1999 and 2003 respectively. The Corsa, which met the 120 g/km emissions standard currently under consideration by the European Union, was unsuccessful due to perceptions that low-emissions cars do not perform well, while the Lupo was withdrawn in 2005, a year in which VW only made 5,700 of the cars. Surveys conducted last year showed that 38 percent of Europeans would not buy a hybrid car under any circumstances, while those who said they would buy one said that they were not willing to pay much more for hybrids or for cars equipped with other low-emissions technology.
The European Union hopes to reach an emissions standard of 120 g/km by 2012. The European Commission is still debating legislation amid complains from carmakers that the new limit is “unrealistic”, technically not feasible, and will make a large portion of the European automobile manufacturing sector unprofitable. The carmakers say that while they are working toward lowered emissions, a more wide-ranging approach that includes taxation, state promotion of the use of lower-emissions biofuels, and changes in the traffic infrastructure besides just calling for cars that produce lower emissions.
Still, the industry is preparing for a time when lower emissions will be mandated. For example, BMW has said it is preparing a series of mid-sized cars that will be equipped with stop-start technology and has already launched a production-ready vehicle that runs on petrol and liquid hydrogen.