German car sales shot up after that country started a plan that paid owners of old cars to scrap their rides and buy new ones. It worked so well that the UK and the U.S. quickly started thinking about putting similar plans in place. Automotive News Europe (subs req'd) gives us another reason (four, actually) to think that these plans work, and work well, in getting people to buy a new car.

There are scrapping incentives in four of the biggest markets in Europe (Germany, France, Italy and Spain), ANE writes, and these are leading to increased demand for small cars, especially French minicars like the Renault Twingo (up 8.9 percent) and the Citroën C1 (up 9.4 percent). Sure, overall sales are still down, but the scrappage incentives are meant to get newer, more efficient cars on the road to replace older, dirtier vehicles, and they're working. Slowly but surely.


[Source: ANE]

The European Union has been working on new legislation with the goal of reducing overall carbon emissions to just 130 g/km by 2015. Many believe that electric vehicles are the best way to achieve this ultimate goal, but internal reports may not agree with this assessment, according to the Financial Times. In fact, Jean Syrota, the former French energy industry regulator, is said to have authored a 129-page document that promotes the continued use of the internal combustion engine, albeit ICEs combined with new technology and advanced biofuels. Apparently, the closest that the report comes to suggesting that EVs have any potential is to promote range-extended models that wouldn't need extremely large capacity battery packs. The report also suggests setting strict speed limits in all of Europe, including Germany.

If rumors are in any way accurate, current President of the EU and the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy is purposely sitting on the report as it may not agree with his desired intentions for European automakers.

[Source: Financial Times]

As we all know, the auto industry is sometimes subsidized by Governments, especially in hard times like this. In the case of the EU, its Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen have announced that the European car industry would get help - if automakers produce clean cars. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) wants a €40 billion loan package to help it develop EU-required green technologies. ACEA claims that, without this help, they won't be able to meet any of the carbon limits proposed for 2012, even though the European Investment Bank said that they've already lent about €7 billion. Besides the money, ACEA is asking for other types of help, including incentives for car owners to scrap vehicles over eight years old.

[Source: Automotive News (subs. req'd)]

More news about the ever-shifting CO₂ legislation targets from the European Commission. As you probably recall, the latest talk is that original 120 g/km target will be weakened to 130 g/km and the timeline to reach that goal will be extended. Turns out, we may never see a vote on the new numbers because the EU Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee decided last week that the 130 g/km target would be illegal and work on any proposed legislation might have to start all over again next year. The UK's Clean Green Cars dug a bit into the legal questions and found that the legislators were using Article 95, which deals with market issues, instead of Article 175, which focuses on the environment, and this means that, "the whole legal basis of the regulation could be challenged," said CGC's publisher Jay Nagley (see full statement after the jump and learn more at Clean Green Cars).

[Source: Clean Green Cars]

Support for crop-based biofuels is falling in many parts of the world, including Europe. When the European Commission proposed that 10 percent of road transport fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020 it didn't specify what types of renewable energy should be used. The European Parliament's industry committee has now endorsed the 10 percent requirement. However, in a nod to environmentalists, the committee has decided that at least 40 percent of that should be provided by hydrogen or electricity from renewable sources or next-generation biofuels. Environmentalists still aren't entirely pleased but the move to limit use of crop-based fuels is seen as a positive development. The committee's decision will be used as the basis for negotiations among member states of the EU before passage of final regulations, likely some time in 2009.

[Source: New Scientist Tech]

Just the other day, we heard the European Union was thinking of lowering its CO₂ standards for automakers. It appears that the rumors were true, as the European Parliament has indeed voted to amend the proposed standards. The details are pretty difficult to follow, as this particular issue has been going on for an excruciatingly long time, so bear with us here. The gist is that the Commission will grant automakers a longer period of time to meet the now-not-as-clean target of 130g/km of carbon emissions along with reducing the amount that automakers would be fined for missing that target. To go along with this, credits would be earned for models which produce fewer than 70g/km. That makes some sense, as it may get automakers to push for that low figure. The problem is that up to five other vehicles could be offset by that one low emitter. That's pretty bad math. Expect these issues to be voted on in the near future.

[Source: Channel 4]

The negotiations regarding proposed European Union CO₂ emissions regulations are ongoing, it seems. Even after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy agreed to push the starting date from the year 2012 to the year 2015, Fiat's CEO, Sergio Marchionne is still unhappy.

The latest issue that Fiat has with the proposals is related to the sliding-scale that automakers would be subjected to. Companies which make larger vehicles would not be required to meet the same regulations as those which produce smaller, more efficient vehicles. Marchionne says that Fiat will hit the proposed 130 gram per kilometer mark that has been thrown about, but would be unable to chop another eight grams from its cars, as the latest proposals would require. If those standards went into effect, Fiat would be charged penalties despite offering the lowest carbon emissions of all automakers in the European Union, which does seem a bit backwards. Still, the company is already hitting that standard, so some reduction may not be too much to ask. As always, we expect these protracted negotiations to continue on well into the future.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

My, how the tables have turned. First, it was Germany that was in opposition to stringent emissions standards in the European Union which would have regulated the amount of carbon dioxide a vehicle can emit, beginning in 2012. German automakers tend to make large, luxurious vehicles with big, powerful engines. France, though, did not want to see changes made to the regulations, as its automakers already were close to meeting the proposals and thought it would be unfair to make concessions just for German brands. So, the two countries had a little meeting and came to some sort of agreement which would not go into effect until 2015.

Now, it's Italy that is in opposition to the French and German deal, as Italian automakers also offer rather efficient vehicles. Italian environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo calls the new proposal unacceptable and feels that it would put the Italian companies at a disadvantage to its competition. We wonder what the final regulations may look like once every country has had its say in what should be done.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

While John McCain's idea of a gas tax holiday was a hit in the U.S. (well, it was a hit with him and Hillary Clinton, anyway), the European Commission is saying no in all sorts of languages to the possibility of the EU capping the value-added tax on fuel. Automotive News Europe reports that the EC shot down a proposal by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to cap the tax by saying any such move was the wrong response to high oil prices and would require unanimous agreement anyway. Sarkozy didn't specify how high he thought oil prices should go before the tax cap kicked in, but it doesn't look like he even needs to bother. The EC's stand is that, "changing taxation on fuels in order to combat increasing prices would send the wrong message to producing countries. This would show them that they could increase prices, and citizens would have to pay for this. So that's really the wrong message," Commission energy spokesman Ferran Tarradellas told ANE. Funny, that's not the message we heard when McCain and Clinton were all 'bout the gas tax holiday.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]

The German arguments to European Commission rules aimed at lowering average vehicle CO₂ emissions has been well covered. Because many of the major German brands make large, powerful vehicles, the German administration felt that they were being dealt with unfairly. France, for its part, has automakers which quite nearly complied with the proposed standards just as they were and did not want to see German automakers get any special treatment. Can't we all just get along? Maybe, since Automotive News is reporting that representatives from the two feuding nations have gotten together and are hashing out their differences. We don't have any details on just what changes are being suggested to the proposal, but an anonymous source claims that there are few sticking points left on the table. According to reports, France would like to see a deal made before June 9, when there is a meeting between Frech President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel scheduled in Bavaria. Stay tuned.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]