EU car companies seek 3-year reprieve on CO2 rules
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Car manufacturers called on the European Commission on Tuesday to delay setting new requirements for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 2015, three years later than currently proposed, to give them more time to prepare.
The European Union's executive said in February it would propose legislation by mid-2008 to force carmakers to cut CO2 emissions from new cars to an average of 130 grams per kilometer across the fleet by 2012 through improved engine technology.
"The industry must be granted sufficient lead time to meet any new requirements, and the first feasible date for that to be accomplished is 2015," said Sergio Marchionne, president of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).
"The announced legislative framework will most likely not be ready before 2009. By then, the cars of 2012 will have left the drawing tables."
Marchionne, who is also the chief executive of Italy's Fiat, was speaking at a reception attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The lobby group has previously said the EU proposals were arbitrary, too severe and damaging to the economy.
The Commission says the rules are necessary to clamp down on emissions of greenhouse gases from the transport sector and to help the 27-nation EU meet its commitments to fight global warming under the Kyoto Protocol.
