Automakers in Geneva feel green heat wave

By Dave Guilford, Automotive News

Geneva, Switzerland - Outside the Geneva Auto Salon, fleets of Smart minicars and Volkswagen Polo subcompacts zipped about, bearing messages about their low emissions.

Smart proclaimed itself the "CO₂ champion." VW, meanwhile, boasted that the Polo emits just 102 grams of CO₂ per kilometre driven.

Inside Geneva's expo center, automakers touted environmentally friendly features on car after car. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner opened GM's press conference on 6 March, with a lengthy statement of support for alternative fuels. A day earlier, Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe called the European Commission's proposal to limit CO₂ emissions to 120 grams per kilometer "extremely demanding and challenging."

Automakers clearly feel intense pressure over fuel economy and emissions. In Europe, strong public sentiment underlies European CO₂ policy. But with Al Gore waving an Oscar and a Democratic Congress pushing CAFE increases, the same pressure is building in the United States.

That means many of the concerns - and technologies - seen in Geneva will appear in the United States. Volkswagen, for instance, stressed that its clean-diesel system will meet emissions standards in states such as New York and California that ban many current diesels.

Automakers face pressure over environmental issues on several fronts.

Proposed CAFE changes would raise US fuel consumption requirements by four percent annually for five years. The European Commission wants to cut CO₂ emissions to 120 grams per kilometre traveled - a decrease of roughly 25 percent - by 2012.

Different approaches

Automakers' attempts to deal with environmental concerns played out along a number of fronts:

Biofuel: Biofuel, it turns out, has a constituency beyond farmers and politicians in the US Corn Belt. In part, that's because it's relatively cheap for automakers to adapt current engines to run on it.

French automaker Renault said that when it introduces a Megane compact this spring that runs on a blend of up to 85 percent bioethanol, or E85, the company will be "one of only a few to offer European customers two biofuel options." Renault also sells biodiesel-powered commercial vehicles. Renault said in a statement that it considers biofuels "one of the most efficient and economical solutions for curbing CO₂ emissions in the medium term."

Ford of Europe will offer the redesigned Ford Mondeo, Ford Galaxy and Ford S-Max in flex-fuel versions beginning in early 2008. Saab, meanwhile, claimed to have gained "leadership of bioethanol propulsion technology in Europe" with the BioPower 100 Concept. The car runs on pure bioethanol.

Hybrids: European consumers and automakers have been cool to hybrids, preferring to conserve fuel with diesels. But new hybrids were a major presence at Geneva.

Toyota showed its Hybrid X concept, a four-door, four-seater that hints at Toyota's future hybrid design. On the other end of the spectrum, Toyota's FT-HS concept, a rear-drive sports car, can go from 0 to 62 mph "in the four-second range," according to Thierry Dombreval, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Europe.

In a similar move, Honda showed its Small Hybrid Sports Concept. And Wagoner announced that GM will follow its introduction of the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt, unveiled at the Detroit auto show, with two new vehicles using that technology. They will appear at this year's Shanghai and Frankfurt auto shows.

Fuel cells: Honda displayed a driveable version of its FCX concept, shown as a static concept at last fall's Paris show. Honda says it will begin limited sales of a fuel cell vehicle based on the FCX next year in Japan and the United States.

Plastics: Hyundai's QarmaQ concept, a joint project with General Electric, uses plastics in the place of glass and steel in many areas. The car's clear windshield and top, for instance, are polycarbonate. Much of the body, front-end structure and even the steering wheel are made of plastics.

Gregory Adams, GE Plastics vice president for automotive, says that has taken about 60 kg out of the car, which would cut 80 litres of diesel fuel use a year. And, he adds, the car recycles the equivalent of 900 plastic drink bottles.

Clean diesels: The industry's bind is that although diesels lower fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions, they emit more particulates and nitrogen oxides than gasoline engines. Diesel penetration in Europe is high, thanks to high gasoline prices. The drive for cleaner diesels is intense.

Volkswagen promoted a selective catalytic converter that, it says, reduces up to 90 percent of nitrogen dioxide emissions. VW claims its BlueTDI system "meets even the most challenging exhaust system standards," including requirements that keep many diesels out of states such as New York and California.

Mercedes-Benz introduced a four-cylinder Bluetec diesel engine it is developing. The 2.2-litre engine produces 170 hp at fuel consumption levels comparable to a small car, or about 43 mpg, the company said.

DaimlerChrysler executives wouldn't talk about specific plans, but CEO Dieter Zetsche said the company is working "full speed" toward production.

Thomas Weber, the management board member responsible for research and Mercedes car development, said DaimlerChrysler is putting pressure on itself to introduce greener vehicles. Said Weber: "It's in our interest to go this way."

Amy Wilson contributed to this report

From Automotive News (A Crain publication)