German \"gas guzzler\" image sound familiar

[ozpont]

.. its always seen by many that the American car is the "gas guzzler".. but in Europe.. there are others on the greenies "lets kick" list ...



Germany Needs an Image change.....
Automotive News Europe | 1:00 am, March 19, 2007


At a board meeting earlier this month of ACEA, the European carmakers association, a decision was made to meet again in late April to come up with a common approach to reducing CO2 emissions.

A month is not a long time to craft a cohesive strategy to deal with one of the most fundamental challenges the industry has ever faced.

Attention is now focused on the German carmakers, which make more big and powerful cars than any of their competitors.

The German industry is in a quandary. Its engineers have done a commendable job boosting the efficiency of engines, reducing fuel consumption, making cars lighter and lowering harmful emissions.

But the public-relations campaign has failed and German car companies are seen mostly as makers of high-polluting cars. That was one of the main reasons Bernd Gottschalk, the president of the powerful German auto industry association, abruptly resigned a week ago.

The German industry depends on premium cars. These cars generate the high margins that pay for the huge investment costs the industry faces. Innovation trickles down from the upscale models to the volume segment. And premium is what many consumers want.

Consistently weak public relations have increased the German predicament. In the past three years, German carmakers took a hit when they insisted far too long that diesel particulate filters were an unnecessary extra expense.

The Germans also have suffered from their technically correct but politically unwise opposition to hybrid powertrains.

And now they are caught on the defensive by growing public anxiety over global warming.

Germany’s carmakers continue to look for ways to marry environmental credentials with performance, speed, acceleration, sportiness, no speed limits and many other features that don’t exactly help the fight against global warming.

The PR debacle is not the fault of the messenger, the hard-working Gottschalk. The problem is that the message no longer works.

To foster a European-wide CO2 consensus, the German industry needs to shed its dogma, review its business model and emphasize its engineering strengths in areas other than performance. And it should get that message out.