EU rules to cut CO2 emissions drew a range of views from industry figures at this week’s Reuters Autos Summit, but all said it would be costly to a sector already hit by pricier raw materials, a strong euro and nervous consumers.

Standard & Poor’s director of corporate ratings, Maria Bissinger, said nearly all the companies she followed had a stable or positive outlook, but uncertainty on the CO2 issue was a long-term problem for the industry.

She noted data from German car industry association VDA suggested the cost of cutting CO2 emissions to 120g/km by 2012, as demanded by the European Commission, would be about EUR3,000 a car. That’s on top of EUR2,000 in extra costs since 2005 as a result of other EU regulations, from parts design deregulation, to air conditioning rules, initial CO2 limits and pedestrian protection.

VDA members include car makers such as Mercedes, Porsche, BMW and Volkswagen unit Audi, all of which make relatively heavy cars with big engines and high emissions and are likely to find compliance costs higher than makers of smaller cars like PSA Peugeot Citroen and Fiat, Reuters noted.

The news agency also noted that, though the European car industry organisation ACEA has said the 120g/km level should be seen as an average for the entire industry, not an average per car maker, the industry does not always speak with one voice.

France’s CCFA association, which champions its nation’s makers of relatively low emitting cars, recently said it was not in favour of special treatment for heavier cars.

At the Frankfurt motor show in September, the chief executives of all the ACEA companies held a joint news conference in which they asked the European Commission for realistic targets and more time but, again, there are dissenters.

Valeo chairman and chief executive Thierry Morin told the summit in Frankfurt that the commission had to be very strict and that 120g by 2012 was too little and too late.

“That is five years from now; we have to do something quick to help the planet,” he said.

Valeo’s products include technology that helps cut emissions such as braking_systems that store energy wasted during braking and micro-hybrids.

Morin agreed the costs were an issue, and that a family would probably prefer to spend spare cash on other options, such as leather upholstery, before lower carbon emissions.

“It has to be made mandatory; we would not have bought safety belts if they had not been made compulsory,” he said.

Stefan Wolf, CEO of German car parts group ElringKlinger, told Reuters the car industry had to act on emissions but was taking too much heat.

“I am convinced we have to do something. I also think that the automobile industry is too much in focus, because only 12% of global CO2 emissions come from cars and the automotive industry, and that is why I think we should also look at other areas and other sectors that contribute much more,” he said.

Even luxury sports carmakers are on the case. Ferrari general manager Amedeo Felisa said the company wanted to cut CO2 emissions from 400g/km to 280-300 by 2012.

Lamborghini chief Stefan Winkelmann said his engineers were also working on the problem.

He said the power/weight ratio was one area the sports car maker might improve, trying lighter materials for the body and chassis but, with Lamborghini selling just 2,000 cars a year, that owners largely drove at weekends, the impact was “close to zero”.

The Indian car market and industry will continue to grow strongly as small cars are snapped up by rising numbers of urban middle class consumers according to Vinay Kothari, board member at Force Motors, a maker of utility vehicles in India.

Speaking at the IESE Business School’s Automotive Sector conference in Barcelona, Kothari said that projections for rapid market growth in India reflected demographic and income trends. In addition, the market is also facing a lift from the arrival of a number of small low-cost cars - such as Tata’s one-lakh car - that will enable owners of two-wheelers to more easily upgrade to four wheels.

Renault is also planning a sub-Logan ‘one-lakh fighter’ that would be made in India with Bajaj Auto.

The Indian light vehicle market could be approaching 5m units a year by 2013 from under 2m now, Kothari said.

“And small cars are growing very strongly. By 2015 the market for small cars in India could be as much as 3m units a year,” he added.

But isn’t congestion in India’s big cities already at a level suggesting road capacity is at saturation point? If there is barely room for the two-wheelers to park, where will all the four-wheelers go?

Kothari told just-auto that the primary market in India for the new breed of small of cars is not in the big cities but in the smaller cities and rural areas where incomes are growing and space is not such a problem.

“You won’t see very many Tata one lakh cars in Mumbai or New Delhi,” he said.

THE Edinburgh Marathon has announced a major new sponsor for next year’s event.

Car giant Chevrolet will back the race after getting involved on a smaller scale last year, joining a large team of sponsors which includes the Evening News.

They will back the Hairy Haggis Team Relay, which allows people to jog a section of the course with friends without completing the arduous full marathon distance.

Richard Chamberlain, national retail marketing manager for Chevrolet UK, said: “We are very pleased to be contributing once again to the Edinburgh Marathon after the great success of the event in 2007.

“A number of our marketing managers were involved in the Hairy Haggis Team Relay in 2007 and wanted to give others the opportunity to have as much fun competing as they did.”

Damien O’Looney, marketing manager for the marathon, said: “To have Chevrolet UK increase their commitment by sponsoring the marathon and team relay shows we are continuing to grow in popularity.”

Other sponsors of the event on May 25 include Strathmore Spring Water and Real Radio.

With some experts predicting the price of gasoline may play tag with $4 a gallon next spring, it seemed like just the right time to drive about 60 miles or so without using a drop of the stuff.
We recently had the chance to drive a Chevy Equinox hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle and a Honda Civic powered by natural gas.
It is noteworthy that GM will place about 100 of the fuel cell-powered vehicles in the hands of consumers to see how they perform, and how well they are accepted. GM engineers are quick to note that this is a fourth generation fuel cell stack, and they are hard at work on generation five. So this is serious stuff at GM, as it is at other automakers.
We were most impressed by the Equinox, but feel our readers should have a quick reality check here. You will not be able to go down to the Chevy garage any time soon and buy a fuel cell vehicle. There is the need for a lot more development work along with the establishment of a nationwide network of outlets that sell hydrogen.
This is where we bog down in the classic chicken and the egg argument. What comes first - the vehicle or the hydrogen filling station? No one has that key question answered…yet.
So what’s Generation 4 like to drive? It is both quick and quiet since it is an electric vehicle with a lot fewer moving parts than the traditional internal combustion-powered truck. Many times driving round the city all you heard was the ventilation fan running, and we did not have it cranked up that much.
On occasion, the Equinox sounded like it had a case of asthma, but it was the regenerative process kicking in and recharging the nickel metal-hydride batteries. Yet, with the radio on one would hardly notice.
Out on the highway, acceleration was better than we expected, despite the extra 500 pounds the Equinox carried around from the hydrogen equipment. The folks who know say it will go from zero to 60 in about 12 seconds.
For those of you in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, GM says this baby will start in sub-freezing weather, but we understand that anything beyond four below zero could be a problem. You can bet they are working on it.
Inside, what you thought was a weird-looking tachometer actually tells you if you are taking a big drain out of the system or regenerating. In this case, if the needle drops into the red it’s a good thing - you are regenerating, but not in the way your mother-in-law always hoped.
Other than that, from a driving standpoint, it is your basic Equinox, until you see what lies underneath. In a diagram, your eye is drawn to the rear where the Equinox has three tanks holding nine pounds of hydrogen at 10,000 psi. GM said the current Equinox had a range of 150 to 200 miles.
The Star Trek-sounding stuff works rather well
There is a neat graphic on the navi screen that illustrates how the hydrogen mixes with oxygen in the fuel cell to produce electricity. That drives the single electric motor, said to be good for about 92 horsepower. There is more Star Trek-sounding stuff we could bore you with, such as the “proton exchange membrane,” but suffice to say it all works - and works rather well.
GM engineers say fuel cell technology has made great strides in recent years, but still has obstacles to overcome regarding the cost of manufacturing, and then mass marketing the technology. And, as mentioned above, finding enough places that sell hydrogen. GM believes that the cost of filling up with hydrogen would be competitive with gasoline.
Of course, the key advantages are reducing the nation’s dependence on oil, and the fact that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles emit only water vapor.
We have now tested two fuel cell vehicles, the other being the Honda FCX concept car. Both makers think that sometime after 2010, and some say not until 2015, you well might be able to go into a dealer’s showroom and buy one. With some extremely sharp minds working on it, this is a prediction that just might come true.
The natural gas-powered Civic shared much in common with the Equinox. It was much like a gasoline-powered Civic inside and on the road, with the exception of a little less get up and go. The little four is rated at 100 horsepower or about 15 shy of the gasoline-powered model.
We were warned not to let the natural gas gauge get below the one quarter mark or the Civic might stop short of the nearest refilling station, some distance away from our office. With a full tank, the range of the vehicle is limited to 220 to 280 miles.
Like hydrogen, natural gas-powered vehicles are clean emissions- wise and energy costs can be favorable, especially if you pop for the option of having your own natural gas filling station at home. Let’s see how often your kid pops out to clean the window when your are doing that!
The natural gas-powered vehicle also costs more, up seven grand from a gasoline-powered Civic. But Honda believes much of what it learns here can be applied to its hydrogen powered-vehicles, so it is a bit of a test bed in more ways than one.
Chevy and Honda insist that both cars are as safe as their gasoline powered models, and Chevy outlined tests that showed the hydrogen tank did not blow up even when hit by a 50 caliber bullet.
Both were interesting rides and an encouraging look at what the motoring world might be like when the oil wells run dry. Or will there be new cartels dealing in hydrogen and natural gas? Eat all your veggies (as Mom said) and take your vitamins, and we all will be around long enough to find out.

Rolls-Royce Wednesday said that a Latin American carriers, LAN Airlines, has selected the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 to power a new fleet of up to 41 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The potential value of the engine order and service contract to Rolls-Royce is over $2.4bn at catalogue prices.
The order, which is the first LAN has placed with Rolls-Royce, covers engines for 26 firm and 15 option aircraft with deliveries commencing in 2012.
In addition, the engines will be supported under a long-term TotalCare service agreement.
The Trent 1000 is the launch engine for all versions of the 787 Dreamliner, which enters service in 2008.
The engine has, like all Trents before, achieved on-time certification from the airworthiness authorities for all variants of the 787 and continues to set the pace on the 787 programme - first engine to run and first engine to be certified.