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Porsche vs. Brussels

The Clash of Two Worldviews

By Erwin Koch

Porsche has long been a symbol of wealth, power and freedom. For Europe, the top priority has become that of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. A visit to the two worlds shows they have little in common.

Sometimes, when Mr. Spiegel drives to work, passing fields and forest along the way, a fox darts across the road in front of him. It's one of the rare times when Spiegel, obsessed as he is with propulsion, is grateful for his 911 Carrera's brakes. And the brakes are indeed exceptional -- made of ceramic, they respond quickly and, more importantly, they only weigh half as much as cast iron. Although braking technology isn't exactly Spiegel's favorite subject, he rejoices over every gram he can subtract from the vehicle's total weight.

Leo Spiegel is the director of advanced powertrain development and alternative drives at Porsche in the town of Weissach, 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the southern German city of Stuttgart. Spiegel, a farmer's son from the eastern part of the state of Hesse, holds a doctorate in engineering and builds engines, perhaps the best in the world.

Of course, says Spiegel, with a hint of a smile, that's something he would never claim.

"But we do have a certain amount of pride in the things we do here," he says, sitting at the conference table in his office on Porsche Street, Building 60, Second Floor, Room 217. But then he wrinkles his forehead and says that, as everyone knows, disaster is on its way from Brussels.

Bane of European Carmakers

Mr. Hörmandinger gets off the Brussels subway at the Beaulieu stop, along with dozens of other passengers. He takes the narrow escalator up to street level, crosses Avenue de Beaulieu and walks briskly up the street, passing cars on both sides and buildings of concrete and glass and, finally, enters a tall building at No. 5 Avenue de Beaulieu. It is a non-smoking building. He shows the guard his identification card and walks to the elevator, passing two glass cases containing products that are considered commendable for being environmentally friendly: P 311 Planta Orange Universal Cleaning Fluid, P 312 Planta Lemon Maintenance Cleaner, P 313 Planta Soft All-purpose Cleaner and P 314 Planta Aloe Dishwashing Detergent. The words "Europe Goes Green" are printed in large letters between the cases.

Hörmandinger is a policy officer with the Directorate General for Environment at the European Commission in Brussels, responsible for clean air and transport. Günter Hörmandinger, the son of a railroad man from Upper Austria, holds a doctorate in engineering and is the bane of European carmakers.

Of course, says Hörmandinger, shaking his head, that is something he would never claim.

"But I do understand that the auto industry is outraged," he says, in his small office on the sixth floor, in Room 112.

But engine builder Spiegel in Weissach, cupping his bald head in his hand, says, with regret: "What the EU wants Porsche to do is impossible, at least according to the physical laws of this earth."

Hörmandinger, the environmental bureaucrat, together with several other officials, has put together a law that would require, beginning in 2012, all new cars throughout the EU to emit an average of no more than 130 grams of carbon dioxide for each kilometer driven. But what that means for individual manufacturers and the emissions reductions they will have to achieve is determined by a so-called limit value curve. Automakers who build cars that are heavier than the average will not be required to reduce emissions to 130 grams. Porsche's sports cars would face a 144-gram per kilometer CO2 emissions limit.

"Porsche will hardly be able to achieve that on its own," says Hörmandinger, 46, in Brussels.

Not all that Special

"We'll never achieve 144," says Spiegel, 48, in Weissach.

Currently, the average Porsche emits 282 grams of CO2 per kilometer, far more than all other makes.

In Weissach, where visitors approaching the revolving doors are greeted with the message "Please push door lightly, door will revolve automatically," there is a glass case that contains the company's pride and joy: scale models of its cars, the 911, the Boxster, the Cayenne, in various colors and permutations. The common Boxster takes six seconds to accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers per hour (0-60 mph in 5.8 seconds). It packs 245 horsepower under its hood, tops out at 258 km/h (160 mph), and has a sticker price of €45,309 ($58,000). The Cayenne Turbo accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in five seconds (0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds), while the 911 Turbo does it in only four seconds (0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds), comes with a 480-horsepower engine, tops out at 310 km/h (193 mph) and costs €153,956 ($197,000), sales tax included.

"Porsche," says the Brussels official, "is the best." Anyone who builds engines at Porsche can be considered part of the engineering elite, says Hörmandinger, who studied engine building before switching to physics and was once required to draw a diesel engine in an examination.

Hörmandinger says that he understands that the people who manufacture the best engines are now frustrated because being the best, their exclusive realm until now, is suddenly no longer considered all that special.

"It's almost like an insult to one's dignity," says Hörmandinger in his small office with the number BU-9 06/112 on the door. The room is furnished with wine-red carpeting, metal cabinets, a world map on the wall and photographs of all of the European commissioners.

"What the EU wants from Porsche is unrealistic and unfair," says engine builder Spiegel. "Just as a single-family home emits more CO2 than a studio apartment, a Porsche emits more CO2 than a small car."

What officials in Brussels want is physically impossible, he says, unless Porsche abandons its identity in the future. But sacrificing Porsche would be like sacrificing a slice of German culture, says Spiegel. As a boy, Spiegel repaired his father's tractors and other farm equipment before becoming a lathe turner and eventually a production engineer and expert for internal combustion engines.

"To achieve what the EU wants, we would have to build different cars, 100-horsepower cars. But then Porsche wouldn't be Porsche anymore."

'Physically Impossible'

Hörmandinger, the European bureaucrat, is short on sympathy. After all, he points out, the EU's current demands have been known for the past 13 years.

Indeed, in 1995 the Commission of the European Union put it in writing, for the first time, that the goal of its environmental policy must be to limit the average fuel consumption among all automobiles to five liters of gasoline or four-and-a-half liters of diesel per 100 kilometers driven (47 mpg for gasoline, 52 mpg for diesel).

Five liters of gasoline or four-and-a-half liters of diesel, when burned, emit 120 grams per kilometer of CO2.

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a chemical compound made up of carbon and oxygen, a colorless, odorless gas, and a natural component of the air. It is produced during the combustion of substances containing carbon, including all fossil fuels, like oil, natural gas and coal, as well as in the bodies of living beings.

The amount of manmade carbon dioxide is directly dependent on the combined amount of fuel being burned. Each year, 36 billion tons of CO2 are released into the earth's atmosphere through chimneys, exhaust pipes and other sources. This CO2, more than any other substance, contributes to the accelerating warming of the planet -- by 0.75 degrees Celsius (1.35 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1900. The climate is in the process of changing. Ice that man once considered eternal is melting and high winds are becoming hurricanes.

"When you read what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has written," says the man in Brussels, "you have to conclude that what we are doing here cannot be described as unrealistic, but as reasonable and necessary."

"Physically impossible," says the man in Weissach.