Ben Pulman wonders how sincere some car makers’ eco efforts are…
I recently sat down to watch Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. While I fell asleep by the end of it – due to tiredness, not boredom I should add – what facts I picked up from this film are enough to scare anybody. As are the recent floods in Britain. Or the heatwave that swept through Europe at the same time.
Cleaning up emissions is a good thing. Even if you don’t buy into the climate change argument, you’ll save money at the pumps by picking a cleaner car. But the current fiscal system skews the argument. Following a chauffeur-driven new-shape Merc E220 diesel home the other day – often belching out black smoke, and in large amounts – I was reminded how obsessed with diesel Europe has become. CO2 is king and dirty diesels are what the Government wants us to drive. Or hybrids.
Take Porsche for instance. It is resolutely refusing to drop a diesel into its 4×4 – instead developing an expensive and heavy Cayenne Hybrid. Why? Wouldn’t it be a cheaper solution to put a VW V6 TDI into the ugly one?
Engineers complain about diesels’ emissions of NOx and particulates, preferring the lighter weight of a petrol engine (50-75kg by their estimates) and benefits for fuel consumption and Porsche’s all-important steering feel. Neatly sidestepping the awkward truth that the hybrid’s petrol-electric gubbins adds a rather portly 150kg to the Cayenne’s kerbweight.
No, the truth is, an electric Cayenne is one very big feather in Porsche’s cap. It’s a PR gimmick – it lets them be seen to be green. Granted, the hybrid system cuts the V6’s CO2 emissions from 310 to 240g/km, but I’d wager that a diesel Cayenne would be just as economical for a fraction of the cost.
The Cayenne Hybrid has all sorts of unique parts, and despite being co-developed with VW and Audi, it’s an expensive project. But the cost of the hybrid project is cheaper than going out of business. People will buy the car believing they can now have a clean conscience, and with any luck the EU will exempt Porsche from its proposed 130g/km limit some time after 2012.
Sports car makers are right in the firing line as never before. Porsche is acting and Ferrari, too, is trying desperately to be seen to be green, recently unveiling its Mille Chili green prototype. Neither company will get anywhere near the EU’s proposed limit, but making a very public attempt to do so might let them off the hook. There’s a lot of lobbying behind the scenes, as Porsche leverages its stake in VW and Ferrari cosies up to Fiat, one of the few companies with an average already below 140g/km.
Whether it’s petrol, diesel, hydrogen, hybrids, electric cars or ultra-small city cars, whatever can keep you in the black is being explored by car manufacturers. A few, widely promoted clean cars let you produce a lot more slightly dirtier and more profitable ones…