Geneva Car Show Going Green

FRANKFURT, March 2, 2007; Michael Shields, European Auto Correspondent writing for Reuters reported that challenged to cut cars' output of climate-warming greenhouse gases, global automakers get the chance at next week's show in Geneva to prove they can make products that are fun to drive but won't wreck the environment.

The only question is whether people will buy them.

With media days on Tuesday and Wednesday, Geneva is an annual showcase for new models and technologies. The accent this year will be more on green power than horse power.

"This time we will have an environmental show in Geneva," said Willi Dietz, who studies the car industry for Germany's Nuertingen University. The watchword will be "more intellect instead of emotion", he said.

Japanese carmakers, who made hybrids a household word, will be on hand to burnish their green halos.

Toyota Motor Co, maker of the Prius hybrid, will display its "Hybrid X" concept car signalling future design trends for its range of cars that combine an electric motor and battery with a standard combustion engine to cut fuel consumption.

Compatriot Honda Motor Co Ltd, presents a small hybrid sports car concept that seeks to dispel the notion that sporty vehicles have to chug fuel.

Daihatsu Motor shows the Eco version of its Cuore small car that emits only 99 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer (g/km), well below the 120 g/km cap that the European Commission has proposed as an industry average by 2012.

Reversing an industry trend, Mazda Motor Corp makes its Mazda 2 car smaller than its predecessor, helping save fuel.

Even some European brands known for their powerful engines are catching the green spirit with compact and mid-sized cars.

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BMW diplays a 1-Series car with a system that captures energy from braking and feeds it to the battery to help acceleration. Its 143-horsepower engine emits 123 g/km of CO2.

Audi has an economy version of its A3 model whose 1.9-litre diesel engine spews only 120 g/km.

Even muscle cars are getting cleaner. Italdesign-Giugiaro is showing a concept racing car whose eight-cyclinder engine burns hydrogen and thus emits only water vapour. The passenger sits behind the driver, who controls the car with joysticks.

Industry executives remain unconvinced, however, that consumers are prepared to pay the extra costs of super-clean cars unless governments provide carrots and sticks via taxes.

"The reality of life is that there is no real customer trend towards cars that have CO2 emissions of, say, 130 g/km," Tim Tozer, Mitsubishi Motors' (7211.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) Europe head, said last month.

Makers of autos such as Porsche and Volkswagen's Audi say politicians are kidding themselves if they think they can impose uniform CO2 caps once Europe's carmakers miss voluntary CO2 goals for the sector.

"Brussels will have to think thrice if they want to pick on us," Audi CEO Rupert Stalder said this week, suggesting it would cut jobs if saddled with environmental laws that crimp sales.

Porsche development chief Wolfgang Duerheimer told German newspaper Die Zeit the company's very existence was at stake.

"A manufacturer like Porsche that abandons the goal of developing sporty and safe vehicles that are better than those of rivals will soon disappear from the market," he said.

(Additional reporting for Reuters by Jan Schwartz in Hamburg)