03/07/2007

Geneva Motor Show Goes Green

Showing Off Fuel Efficiency

The Geneva Motor Show has never been so green. Just as the climate change debate is heating up, car manufacturers, from Volkswagen to Porsche, are presenting their fuel-efficient models. It seems the climate in the car industry has changed.

It was 7.45 a.m. and all was right with the world. Volkswagen chairman of the board Ferdinand Piëch, who had come with his wife to the Motor Show in Geneva, wore a grey suit and a car-patterned yellow tie, and listened to the presentation by Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn. The company from Wolfsburg, Germany, was opening the round of press conferences at the trade show, which runs March 8-18, and immediately set the tone: The industry is doing well, it wants to grow further -- and it is finally taking the CO2 debate seriously.

Winterkorn pointed to the record year of 2006, during which Volkswagen sold 5.73 million cars throughout the world. And 2007 has seen a pretty good start for VW too, with almost 500,000 vehicles sold in the first two months of the year.

After these announcements of success, Winterkorn indicated that the current climate discussion would no longer be shrugged off or pushed aside. "We are offering 78 models which use on average less than six liters of petrol per 100 kilometers," he said and announced confidently: "We are setting the pace when it comes to fuel-efficiency."

He then unveiled the Polo BlueMotion (3.9 l/100 km, 102 g CO2/km), the Passat BlueMotion (5.1 l/100 km, 136 kg CO2/km) and the Golf Variant. Then the Brazilian footballer Marcelinho, the new star of Wolfsburg's Bundesliga soccer team, climbed out of the station wagon, and the team's trainer Klaus Augenthaler jumped onto the stage. So even in the midst of all this automobile rationality, there was still room for a little bit of glamor.

And Winterkorn had a jibe ready for competitors Toyota. The Polo BlueMotion is "a good €9,000 cheaper that many of the much lauded hybrid models by the Japanese manufacturers," the CEO said archly, and added: "Everything is possible at VW, but nothing is impossible."

The German manufacturers are annoyed with Toyota and the enormous attention that its Prius hybrid model has received in the global media. The commercial success of the car in Germany has not exactly been convincing, however: Over the past year 3,027 Prius models have been registered in Germany -- out of a total of 3.45 million new vehicles. Nevertheless the car has caused a whirlwind in the industry like no other, because it is perceived as the blueprint for environmentally-friendly models.

Even though German manufacturers' hybrid versions are still at the development stage and will only be shown at the International Automobile Show in Frankfurt in September, VW & Co. have decided to give up moaning and are coming up trumps with their own ideas. BMW has announced that it is committed to "efficient dynamics" and is presenting a version of one of its vehicles that should emit only 123 grams of CO2 per kilometer. However, the company can't hide the fact that it is also presenting an M3 concept vehicle with a 5-liter V8 engine and more than 400 horsepower in Geneva.

Audi is also attempting a balancing act. The German company is showing a fuel-efficient version of its A3 small car, which will only emit 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer. But at the same time, it is premiering the new A5 coupé, in the S-version with 354 hp, which costs €55,900. Mercedes is presenting its new C class as the "Vision C220 Bluetec," which delivers 170 hp and a torque of 400 Nm, but should not require more than 5.5 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers. Plus it is so clean that it already meets the EURO 6 emission standard, which will be applicable to all new vehicles in Europe from 2015. "A blueprint for future-ready top technology." DaimlerChrysler boss Dieter Zetsche enthused.

Opel and Ford are also taking the climate debate seriously. Opel is showing a new Corsa whose 1.3 liter diesel motor is optimized to only have a CO2 emission of 119 g/km, instead of the previous 124 g/km. And Ford is presenting the new medium-sized Mondeo as a saloon, fastback and station wagon, but it is also showing bio-ethanol vehicles, in an attempt to find a path towards a future with less CO2.

Even Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking is in favor of fuel made from biomass. The Cayenne SUV will soon be able to deal with 25 percent bio fuel in the tank, and later the car will be re-equipped for the fuel known as "E85," which is made up of 85 percent bio-ethanol and 15 percent regular gasoline. And the Porsche boss also confirmed that the Cayenne and the future four-door Panamera will be available with hybrid engines.

The CO2 debate is ubiquitous on the streets of Geneva. Brightly painted Smart cars carry the label "CO2 champions," while VW brought a fleet of 102 Polo BlueMotions to Geneva to use as shuttle cars, all of which have "102 g /km CO2" written along the sides. The theme has arrived everywhere, it seems. "Even the chief executive drove here in a BlueMotion," the VW spokesperson reported. Nothing is impossible after all.

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