BRUSSELS, September 5 /PRNewswire/ --     European carmakers are failing to deliver the lower carbon emissions they
pledged to the European Commission in 1998 (1), with emission rates from new
cars down by just 0.2% last year, the worst performance on record.

New figures published today by Transport and Environment (T&E), a
sustainable transport campaign group, show new cars sold in Europe in 2006 by
members of the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) (2)
emitted 160g of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre on average, down less than
half a gram on the previous year. ACEA, which accounted for 81% of sales in
Europe in 2006, committed to reach 140g/km by 2008 but will now almost
certainly miss that target.

The 2006 figures for Japanese manufacturers (JAMA) stood at 161g/km
followed by Korean (KAMA) producers at 164g/km on average. The overall figure
for all carmakers for the average new car sold in Europe in 2006 stands at
160g/km down from 161g/km in 2005, a reduction of 0.7%. (3).

Aat Peterse, programme manager at T&E said: "In the first eight years of
their voluntary commitment carmakers concentrated on bigger, heavier and more
gas guzzling cars, and the results speak for themselves. Clearly, the
voluntary commitment wasn't worth the paper it was written on and regulation
is needed now more than ever. The EU must stick to a legally-binding target
of 120g/km by 2012 and ensure that a series of long-term targets are in place
leading to 80g/km by 2020."

Evidence is emerging that carmakers have been holding fuel efficient
technology back for years and are only now starting to bring it to market as
the threat of regulation becomes real.

Thomas Weber, head of R&D at DaimlerChrysler, told Automotive News Europe
in July that Mercedes could have launched a fuel-saving stop-start version of
its second-generation A class when it launched the car three years ago. "We
had it ready behind the curtains, but no one asked for it -- so we held it
back," he reportedly said. "Now everything has changed." (4).

Since plans for the first legally-binding standards for CO2 emissions
were announced by the European Commission last year (5), carmakers have
announced a number of green marketing initiatives including Efficient
Dynamics (BMW), ECOnetic (Ford), ecoFLEX (Opel/Vauxhall), eco2 (Renault) and
BlueMotion (VW).

Peterse commented: "In the last few months, Europe's carmakers have come
up with enough green brands to fill a dictionary. It's up to the EU to make
sure the current buzz translates into real emissions reductions."

ACEA are actively lobbying the EU to give heavier cars, such as SUVs,
weaker CO2 standards. Today's figures also show that the average weight of
new cars increased by 18 kg in 2006 continuing a long-term upward trend. And
yet, reducing weight is one of the most important methods of improving fuel
efficiency and cutting CO2 emissions.

In research published last month, T&E cited compelling evidence from a
range of studies that show boosting the existing trend towards heavier cars
by introducing weight-based CO2 targets would lead to more road fatalities
than if a single CO2 standard for all cars was used. (6).

Peterse said: "The carmakers are pushing for Europe's new CO2 targets
from 2012 to be weight-based, but that will result in heavier, and therefore
more dangerous cars than if there was a single standard."

T&E is calling on the EU to stick to a single fleet average standard of
120g/km by 2012. Alternatively, T&E says car 'footprint', the area between
the four wheels, could be used as a temporary measure to define what CO2
standard individual car models would have to apply. 'Footprint' is the
attribute used in new North American CAFE fuel efficiency standards for light
trucks and was chosen, amongst other reasons, because it avoids the dangerous
safety implications of using a weight-based standard.

The European Parliament's environment committee will vote on a so-called
'opinion' on new car CO2 regulations in Strasbourg next week in advance of a
formal legal proposal from the European Commission in December.

T&E's 2006 progress report on the car industry's voluntary commitment can
be downloaded from the website: http://www.transportenvironment.org.

Notes to Editors:

(1) In 1998 the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA)
committed to the European Union to reduce the average CO2 emissions of new
cars sold in the (then) 15 EU Member States to 140 g/km, down from 186 g/km
in 1995.

(2) ACEA's members include the following carmakers: BMW Group,
DaimlerChrysler, General Motors Europe, Porsche AG, PSA Peugeot Citroën,
Renault, Fiat, Ford of Europe, Volkswagen, Volvo.

(3) The figures are based on sales data from the EU25 excluding Malta.

T&E analysed sales and CO2 information in a European Commission database
that forms the basis of the official EU monitoring mechanism on cars and CO2
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/co2/co2_monitoring.htm).

The European Commission has so far not made public the CO2 figures for
the years 2005 or 2006. T&E was granted access to the database following a
request under EU access to documents
law.http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/access_documents/index_en.htm).

(4) 'Mercedes vows to out-green rivals', article published in Automotive
News Europe, 23/07/2007.

(5) The European Commission first announced that the car industry could
face legislative measures if it failed to improve its CO2 emissions
performance in a monitoring report published in August 2006 (
http://www.transportenvironment.org/Article212.html). This was confirmed in a
communication on cars and CO2 published in February 2007. A legal proposal is
not expected until late 2007 or early 2008.

(6) For further information on weight-based CO2 standards please see the
T&E press release of 29/08/07: 
http://www.transportenvironment.org/Article457.html

About T&E

T&E is the principal environmental organisation campaigning specifically
on transport at EU level. Together with our 49 member organisations in 21
countries, T&E works to promote an environmentally-sound approach to
transport and mobility.

www.transportenvironment.org/docs/Publications/2007/2007-09_progress_voluntary_commitment_2006.pdf