Carmakers call for emissions delay

Fiat boss and European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association president Sergio Marchionne is urging the EU to extend the deadline from 2012 to 2015.

Marchionne warned that the costs involved in meeting the current deadline could result in the loss of European motor industry jobs.

“There is no ‘one solution’ to cut carbon emissions from cars,” he said.

“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,” he said.

The Fiat boss described plans to make carmakers cut carbon emissions from 2005 levels of 160g/km to 130/km by 2012 as “unbalanced, inadequate and economically inefficient.”

Marchionne, widely credited with spearheading Fiat’s recent improved performance, warned that the costs of meeting these targets could see a further move away from European-based car production.

His comments come after the launch of a report by financial analysts Standard & Poor’s, which warned that world wide carmaker profitability was being put under pressure by such laws.

It predicted further research and development collaborations and warned that only a few German and Japanese producers were fully prepared for tighter emissions laws.