New figures show that carmakers are failing to meet commitments to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Research from Germany's RL Polk Marketing Systems has been analysed by a UK group for the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) and shows that the car industry is highly unlikely to meet targets.

In 1998 the European Automobile Manufacturers Association promised to produce average CO2 emissions of 140 grams per kilometre for new cars by 2008.

However, in 2005 carmakers in Europe sold cars that averaged 160g/km, down by only one per cent on 2004. This means that they must improve by 4.3 per cent per year until 2008 to meet the targets. The previous best annual improvement rate was 2.9 per cent in 2000.

T&E director Jos Dings criticised the European Commission for allowing carmakers to default on their promises.

"President Barroso's Commission has sat back and watched while carmakers put all their technology into making cars heavier and more powerful, rather than more fuel efficient," he said, noting that Mr Barroso himself owns a fuel-heavy car.

Efficiency improvements for vehicles are not prohibitively expensive, Mr Dings believes, and meeting the EU target would lead to a large decrease in fuel bills.

"Rules that make cars more fuel efficient save lots of money and save the planet," he concluded.

The figures were analysed by the Institute for European Environmental Policy.


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