LUxURY CAR MARkET LINEs
Top Five Greenest Luxury Cars – As
UP TO PROMOTE CLEANER
Recommended By ‘What Car’
DRIVING
1: BMW 730d saloon
CO2 emissions: 210g/km. Price: a67,693
Big beasts of car industry aim to run on
renewables.
L
uxury car company Bentley has pledged to cut CO2 emissions
by 15 per cent on its vehicles by 2012, when a European
Union deadline comes into force.
The British-based company is owned by Volkswagen and sold 10,000
cars for the first time last year. It claims it will be the first in its market
sector to hit the limits, and further pledged to be one of the first in the
2: Jaguar XJ 2.7 diesel saloon
world to deliver cars capable of running on 100 per cent renewable
CO2 emissions: 214g/km. Price: a59,989
fuels throughout its fleet.
Franz-Josef Päfgen, Bentley’s chief executive, said Volkswagen’s
engineers have spent years developing new fuels and engines.
Jacques Barrot, EU transport commissioner
Päfgen said the group was working on producing bioethanol from
straw and other forms of biomass, which would bring huge benefits
to farmers, would require minimum extra land and would not compete
with food production.
He said lighter engines would help cut CO2 emissions by at least 15
3: Lexus LS600h
per cent by the EU deadline in 2012 and a new powertrain would
CO2 emissions: 219g/km. Price: a103,268
cut fuel consumption by 40 per cent. “Flex-fuel” engines, capable of
running on renewables, would be available by then, which on a well-
to-wheel basis would cut CO2 output by up to 90 per cent and hit the
EU target of 120 grams a kilometre.
Other car groups have quickly followed suit. Dieter Zetsche, head
of Daimler, owner of Mercedes, and Rick Wagoner, General Motors
chief, said they would be introducing hybrid cars with more compact
lithium-ion batteries. Tadashi Arashima, head of Toyota Europe, said
he expected to sell more than 60,000 hybrids on the continent this
year, reaching 100,000 early in the next decade. And Ford launched
4: Mercedes S320 L CDI
its new Fiesta capable of cutting C02 emissions to under 100g/km.
CO2 emissions: 220g/km. Price: a74,987
5: Audi A8 3.0 V6 TDI
CO2 emissions: 224g/km. Price: a68,680
7 | eco-executive
Front Section.indd 7 18/4/08 15:16:42
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