Toyota, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and BMW are the carmakers closest to reaching their CO2 targets next year, according to a report by market research firm JATO Dynamics. The targets are imposed by the European Union, whose objective for 2015 is to enforce a fleet average CO2 level of 130 g/km for manufacturers selling cars in Europe.
In order to reach that objective, CO2 targets are lowered progressively each year. In 2009 the average was 145.9 g/km and in 2010 it went down to 140.9 g/km. Emissions regulations will be imposed starting next year, with significant fines to be enforced to automakers that will not comply with the new emissions limits.
From 2012 to 2018, carmakers will be fined €5 per vehicle for the first g/km of CO2, €15 for the second gram, €25 for the third gram and €95 from the fourth gram onwards. For instance, a company that sells 1 million cars in Europe and misses the target by 1 g/km of CO2 will face a €5 million ($7 million) fine.
Toyota, PSA and BMW need to reduce their overall fleet emissions by 7 percent or less to reach the imposed threshold for this year, but Daimler, Mazda and Nissan are way behind, having to reduce their emissions with values ranging from 19.8 to 17.6 percent.
Fiat had the lowest group CO2 level last year – 125.9 g/km. Still, the Italian company needs to drop down to 116.1 g/km by 2015. That's because the EU calculates individual targets for each automaker according to a weight-based system. Since Fiat mostly sells small cars, it had the lightest average weight for its models in 2010, at 1,067 kg (2,352 lbs).
By Dan Mihalascu
Sources: Autonews , J.D. Power
