With the European Union tightening restrictions on carbon emissions, danger has been spelled out in big bright letters for the sportscar-makers we know and love. The bulk of the world's best supercar manufacturers – including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, Aston Martin and Porsche – reside in Europe, but while industry executives continue to campaign for exception and protection, things don't look good. There are, however, a few solutions that could keep the exotic automakers in business and unmolested.
Firstly, both automakers and lawmakers agree on the need to reduce weight, which helps neither emissions nor performance. However, weight reduction itself won't bring the supercars below the 120g/km target touted by the EU. One possible solution would be to give niche automakers an exemption, noting that the few cars they produce are rarely driven anyway. According to Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann, exotic automakers like his "are representing Europe to the world" and "are a species to protect", much like an art form. That's something we car lovers can appreciate, and if it strikes a cord with the lawmakers it could help some of the smaller independent automakers like Aston Martin and Lotus, but it won't help the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini, which are part of bigger auto groups Fiat and Volkswagen, respectively. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has argued that it would be unreasonable to force low-polluting little Fiats like the Panda and the 500 to bear the burden of their more polluting cousins from Ferrari and Maserati simply because they happen to be under common management.
At the end of the day, these exotic sportscars are not the big problem, though they do make easy targets. If European Union bureaucrats ignore the former and focus on the latter, Europe's most famous automakers could be legislated right out of business.
BMW's MINI brand already produces some of the most efficient vehicles for sale in the US, and sources say the pint-sized cars will soon go emissions free, at least in California. BMW is planning to lease 490 Minis in California, with an additional 10 vehicles planned for show car duty. The emissions-free MINIs will be silver with a yellow roof, which should stand out nicely in the land of fruits and nuts.
There are no details at this point pertaining to EV range or date of availability, but BMW claims it will make an announcement regarding electric vehicles later in the year. With all the talk of game-changing vehicles coming in the near future, we're getting the feeling that the upcoming auto show season could be one of the more memorable on record.
Mainstream automakers are faced with the reality of improving the efficiency and cleanliness of everyday vehicles, but companies like Porsche and Lamborghini say drastic change would effect the underlying character of their products. Ferrari apparently doesn't feel the same way, as the exotic automaker has pledged to cut emissions 40 percent by 2012. Like most other automakers, Ferrari plans on tackling its emissions problems on several fronts. It will improve the efficiency of its current powertrains, add new engines, possibly including a turbocharged V6, and bring a hybrid to market that could incorporate Ferrari's Kinetic Energy Recycling System (KERS) employed on its F1 cars, which uses a CVT connected to a flywheel that stores energy under braking. Prancing stallion president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told a German newspaper that the hybrid Ferrari would be available around 2015. If anybody can make a hybrid supercar that is entertaining, efficient, exotic, and extremely fast, we're betting on the guys and gals over at Ferrari.
All of the clean new vehicles in the world won't amount to much if they don't replace the older, dirtier fleet of cars currently on the roads. For this reason, some U.S. states are beginning to offer programs which pay drivers to turn in their old clunkers for new, cleaner cars and trucks. In Texas, for instance, up to $3,500 is available to qualifying families which earn less than $63,000 per year in combined income and own a vehicle which fails current emissions testing. Texas was able to retire 11,000 vehicles last year alone by using this cash-based incentive. California too has begun offering a similar program, and though its $1,500 offer is a bit less generous, that state has no income restrictions.
Even our neighbors up north have plans to reduce their older vehicle fleet by one-percent starting January 1st of next year. Canada's plan would offer drivers either $300 towards a new vehicle, a discount bicycle or a bus pass, which seems a bit suck-tastic next to the program in Texas.
If you have a passion for Tata-owned British luxury vehicles and you're willing to move to central England, then Jaguar/Land Rover may have the opportunity of a lifetime for you. The newly Indian-owned British marques are looking to fill 600 positions to beef up their engineering staffs that work on emissions performance. Both experienced engineers and yungins fresh out of college are needed, as well as a few HR schmucks and some purchasing and finance bean counters. The reason for the new hires includes tough new European CO2 emissions targets coupled with the fact that former parent Ford Motor Company had been supplying much of the brain-power to meet those targets. Many earth-saving technologies have already been developed, like an engine stop/start system for Land Rover, but more bodies are needed if game-changing products like the LRX are to see the light of day. If you apply, remember that reading Autoblog daily is considered a total asset by HR people.
How can a company like Lamborghini be expected to adapt to tightening emissions regulations? It's a reasonable question, and according to the company's chief executive Stephan Winkelmann, it simply can't. In an interview with Automotive News, the supercar exec justifies that its production is so limited and its vehicles are so rarely driven that its overall environmental impact is negligible. As such, Lamborghini will not be switching to downsized engines, like Ferrari has been discussing.
Winkelmann also reiterated that Lamborghini is not interested in significantly boosting production, or in developing SUVs or four-seaters. Business as usual, then, for the Raging Bull, and you know what that means: powerful, loud, exotic supercars that you can't get your hands on... and hopefully, neither will the bureaucrats.
After protests by California auto dealers, the head of California's Air Resources Board (CARB) said she is willing to discuss modifying one aspect of the state's stringent emission regulations. Mary Nichols, CARB Chairwoman, told reporters at an SAE Government/Industry meeting that she is open to "regional" standards for tailpipe emissions, rather than the current standards that create state-by-state standards.
As it stands now, automakers need to cut tailpipe emissions 30 percent by 2016, per regulations established by California in 2002. With 13 states adopting those same requirements and more in the process, a patchwork of regulations is emerging nationwide. Automakers, and auto dealers, have argued that such a trend could force some brands to stop selling vehicles altogether in places like California, because it's too cost prohibitive to build different versions of the same car to meet a multitude of standards. Some also speculate that consumers would just go buy larger vehicles in neighboring states with less stringent regulations. A regional approach to emission regulations might protect auto dealers from watching their business walking out of the state, but we're certain that the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers that represents most major carmakers in the U.S. will continue arguing for California's standards to be disregarded in favor of the more stringent national standards set forth in our nation's new energy bill.
This Thursday has been is the date for a big meeting between the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) that represents General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler LLC, Toyota Motor Co., BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler-Benz, Mazda and Nissan North America. Though Arnie was once a HUMMER drivin' fool and unofficial pitch man for the poster SUV of environmental incorrectness, he's now the gubernatorial head honcho of a state that's been a big PITA for automakers when it comes to emissions standards.
California once had federal approval to set its own emissions standards, and the feds also allowed any other states to adopt California's standards instead of much weaker federal standards if they wanted. Seventeen states now either have or are considering adopting California's emissions standards, which means automakers are faced with the dilemma of possibly building two versions of every vehicle to meet both standards, go bankrupt trying to meet California's standards in time, or even not selling vehicles in those 17 states at all.
The federal government's new energy bill that calls for a raised Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard of 35 mpg by 2020 is what the AAM wants to talk to the Governator about. The AAM hopes to convince Arnold that meeting the new federal standards will be difficult but doable, while California's proposed standard of 40.5 mpg by 2016 is impossible to achieve without losing thousands of jobs and possibly bankrupting vulnerable automakers.
Schwarzenegger is not likely to buy the alliance's argument, however, and this conflict between the automakers and California will likely be settled in federal court a long time down the road.
Audi has been quietly going about the business of preparing its lineup for a green future, with cleaner and more efficient diesels in Europe, and oil-burners scheduled for the US in the near future. While the German automaker realizes diesel will be big in the next 10 years, it's also planning for life without emissions. Audi exec Rupert Stadler says the four-ringed automaker is primed to offer an electric vehicle in the next five to ten years. Meanwhile, Audi's German competition has been talking up its green position, but Stadler points out that the Volkswagen-owned brand has more research resources to exercise its options.
With the emissions belt being tightened both here in the US and in Europe, every automaker is going to have to make huge changes to its vehicles to stay in the game, and Audi is no different. We're going to be the big winners during these changing times, and while a battery-powered R8 won't sound as good as its petrol-powered twin, we like the idea of plugging in our sports car instead of filling it with gas every few days.
In California, home of the strictest car emissions regulations in the U.S., cars produced before 1976 do not need to undergo smog testing. California State Senator Dean Florez has proposed legislation that would remove that exemption for cars registered in the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District.
What would that mean if it were passed into law? It would mean that as of January 1, 2009, any car registered in a rather large swathe of central California -- from the 1974 Maverick to the 1929 Model A -- would need to pass every current and future smog test. If it didn't, it couldn't be driven.
It is theorized that the move comes because state authorities have missed their air quality goals and are now looking at targeting a tiny fraction of cars. Living in LA, we can't speak for Central California, but most of the pre-1976 vehicles we see here sound and run better than the glut of 80's Toyotas puttering down the streets. What vintage car owners fear is that if the legislation becomes law in the San Joaquin Valley, then it's only a matter of time before it gets adopted everywhere.
