Low Consumption Cars

There were plenty of pamphlets touting environmental concerns and banners proclaiming green credentials at the Frankfurt Auto Show which ended last month. But German carmaker Volkswagen said Tuesday, Oct. 9, it intended to put its money where its mouth is regarding promises to cut carbon dioxide emissions by meeting consumer demand for cars with better gas mileage.

"The environment is a topic of discussion in our society and we do not think it is going to come in like a wave then roll back away, as it has in the past," VW spokesman Andreas Meurer said.

Still, no one at VW expects the company's single-cylinder car in development, which would require one liter of gas to travel 100 kilometers -- the equivalent of 238 miles per US gallon -- to be a record breaker in sales terms, CEO Martin Winterkorn.

The car, whose body will be made primarily of plastic and magnesium, will only reach a maximum speed of 120 kilometer per hour (75 mph).

"People taking this car on the autobahn should pray they don't get run over by a trailer truck," said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director for the Center of Automotive Research at the University of Gelsenkirchen.

Costly production

Dudenhöffer said he thought VW would sell between 500 and 1,500 of the cars. The fuel-efficient vehicle will be based on the "Up!," a compact four-door, though the new car is likely to be considerably more expensive.

"A car based on the 'Up!' and made out of light-weight materials with a special motor is a lot more expensive and will probably be more of a niche product," Dudenhöffer said.

Regardless of the price, which has not yet been set, the car will serve as an example of what technology can achieve and help VW develop its profile as an environmentally aware company, Dudenhöffer said.

"It will help build a positive image for the brand," he added. "That's why the project is being run as a small series instead of a prototype."

Missing voluntary targets

But the car is nothing more than a red herring for a failed ecological sales strategy, said Werner Reh of the environmental group Friends of the Earth Deutschland.

He said the company was trying to present itself as more environmentally friendly than the facts show, adding that VW, like most German carmakers, would not even be able to meet the voluntary CO2 emissions limits the auto industry has set itself.

"Manufactures have to meet their self-imposed CO2 emissions standards and a car that is sold a thousand -- or even ten thousand -- times won't help," he said. "A hundred thousand of the cars would have to be sold."

In 1998, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, which represents the 13 of the largest automakers on the continent, reached a voluntary agreement with the European Commission to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 140 g/km over 10 years.

Low-consumption cars nothing new

With an average or 173 g/km, a change in marketing strategy would be a step in the right direction for Volkswagen, Reh said.

"VW, like all German manufactures, spends billions to advertise vehicles that emit more than 200 grams of CO2," he said. "Maybe they should change the commercials first."

But consumers also have a hand in lowering CO2 emission, Dudenhöffer said, adding that Germans are buying larger, more powerful cars than ever before.

"We've already had all kinds of fuel-saving cars on the market with the Audi A2, the three-liter Lupo from VW and Opel's environmental models," he said. "They all flopped with customers."