London, England – As Europe shifts steadily toward vehicle taxation based on CO2 emissions and manufacturers hasten to comply with emissions standards, about 80 per cent of European sales are expected to be low-CO2 vehicles, according to new data from Frost & Sullivan.

Stringent EU emissions will be less than 130 g/km by 2015 for a manufacturer’s average fleet; the report estimates that the 80 per cent of sales will be vehicles less than 150 g/km. The countries covered in the research are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

“By 2015, the average car in Europe will be five per cent lighter, with 30 per cent lower CO2 emissions,” said Vigneshwaran Chandran, Frost & Sullivan program manager. “Downsizing, gasoline direct injection, and start-stop will be the key technologies helping original equipment manufacturers achieve emission targets by 2015.”

While manufacturers will invest heavily in the development of new low-CO2 models and engine variants, the challenge is in passing the costs on to the customer. “Offsetting the high development costs for ‘green’ technologies and time for returns on investment on certain expensive developments, such as gasoline direct injection and hybridization, will be a key commercial challenge for automakers,” said analyst Hariher Balasubramanian.

Subsequently, mass manufacturers will probably adopt moderate downsizing and technologies such as variable valve trains and direct injection, while premium automakers will invest significantly on aggressive engine downsizing by more than 20 per cent, combined with full hybridization.

Related posts:

  1. Europe sticks with 2012 target for CO2 emissions
  2. Europe outlines Green Car Initiative
  3. Europe begins volume hybrid module production
  4. Oil prices, emission concerns driving hybrid transition
  5. Stability control to become mandatory in Europe