Green drive ‘could hike car costs by €5,000’

THE COST of a new car could increase by €5,000, warn car manufacturers, which have been given a six-year deadline to produce cleaner vehicles that emit less carbon dioxide.

Under the proposals outlined by the European Commission, all new cars will have to cut their CO2 emissions by 18% by 2012.

Cars emit an average of 163g of CO2 per kilometre but the EU says this must be reduced to 120g. The majority of the reduction must be achieved through car manufacturers making more efficient cars and 10g must come from cleaner fuel including bio-fuels.

The proposals have led to major rows as Europe’s car industry has warned they could lead to lost jobs and force manufacturers to move factories elsewhere.

European Commission studies say the proposals could add €3,800 to the average cost of a new car, but the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said this would be closer to €5,000.

They undertook to voluntarily reduce emissions to 140g by next year, but the commission’s vice-president, Gunter Verhoygen, said they were still very far from achieving this.

“The car industry faces a major challenge and I urgently advise them to face up to this and not consider it a burden, but more as a positive challenge. I know they can do that,” he said.

A quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from transport and the commission is adamant that if Europe is to meet its Kyoto targets, transport must become cleaner.

Announcing the proposals, environment commissioner, Stavos Dimas, said: “Emissions of 120g by 2012 is key to meeting Kyoto and without this we will fall far short of it.”

While the new vehicle technology involved will push up the price of new cars, Mr Dimas insisted that savings on fuel would more than cover this.

“More fuel-efficient cars are good news to consumers as it will reduce emissions and they will pay less in fuel bills,” he said.

Mr Verhoygen said the buyers of larger vehicles could better afford to pay higher prices, so he expects bigger cars will be even cleaner than smaller ones, bringing the average emissions to 120g.

But even with the mandatory emission levels for new cars, it will be 2024 before all cars on European roads meet the standards.

The proposals were welcomed by Fine Gael environment spokesman, Fergus O’Dowd, but he said the Government must take extra steps to counter heavy-polluting vehicles by increasing their Vehicle Registration Tax.