Today, the European commission proposed to ban cars that emit more than 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer since 2012. The Czech Republic is a car superpower - 850,000 cars were produced in 2006 - which is why they care. They estimate that the price of a new car could jump by $1500-$3500, depending on the unknown price of new technologies. Škoda,
joke no more, joined Audi in driving Volkswagen's profits. If the eurobureaucrats introduce the caps, Škoda will probably
relocate its production to its Russian or Indian plants.
Older (1997) and (slash) recent (2005) average emissions of cars from various companies are:
- Fiat - 169/139
- Citroen - 172/144
- Renault - 173/149
- Ford - 180/151
- Peugeot - 177/151
- Opel - 180/156
- Toyota - 189/163
- Kia - 202/170
- Škoda - 165/152
- Seat - 158/150
- Honda - 184/166
- Mercedes - 223/185
- Hyundai - 189/170
- Volkswagen - 170/159
- BMW - 216/192
- Volvo - 219/195
- Audi - 190/177
- Mazda - 186/177
- Suzuki - 169/165
- Nissan - 177/172
You can easily sort them by CO2 in 2005 - essentially by quality. ;-) Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Mazda, Hyundai ... Renault, Citroen, Fiat. In other words, the proposal of the European commission is to destroy the good carmakers and preserve the others. If accepted, the policy will become a new example that jokes often become reality. Around 2000, the following
joke was circulating:
This is what the European citizens want in Europe:- Swiss salary.
- Luxembourg taxes.
- German car.
- British home.
- Spanish girls. (wow!)
- French wine.
- Italian food.
- Czech beer.
- Austrian mountains.
- Danish administration.
And this is the EC's proposal for a new Europe [originally: after the monetary union]:- Czech salary.
- Swedish taxes.
- Spanish car.
- Greek home.
- German girls. (ugh!)
- Irish wine.
- British food.
- French beer.
- Dutch mountains.
- Italian administration.
Concerning the point 5) above - if Sabine reads it - let me emphasize that I didn't invent the joke. ;-)
