US Car Market Still Falls Short in Reducing CO2 Emissions

22 June, 2010 04:14:00

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The US light vehicle market in the first quarter of 2010 is still almost twice as polluting as Europe and Japan, according to a data released by an automotive data and intelligence firm JATO Dynamics.

JATO's study of the US light vehicle market in the first quarter of 2010 reveals that the market's average CO2 is 268.5 g/km. In order to reflect like-for-like comparison with car markets in other global regions, excluding pick-up trucks, full size vans and small commercial vehicles the figure falls to 255.6 g/km.

This figure compares very unfavorably to Japan (130.8 g/km) and Europe's five biggest markets, which average 140.3 g/km. All markets have improved marginally when compared to the full-year average in 2009; Japan is down 0.4 g/km, the USA is down 1.0 g/km and Europe has improved most significantly with a 4.3 g/km reduction year-to-date.

“It is still clear that American consumers need to undergo a fundamental re-think of their vehicle buying preferences, but the past period of economic upheaval is likely to have meant that other domestic issues have taken consumer’s priority”, says David Mitchell, President of JATO Americas. “The blame can’t just lie with consumers though, the OEM product offering in the US still does little to promote alternatives to the large engine capacity gasoline vehicles which still dominate the market.”

An interesting point to note is that American consumers have been significantly more inclined to adopt hybrid technology than the Europeans. Hybrids have 2.3% market share in the US, while in Europe it is still only 0.5%. Not surprisingly, Japan leads the way with 10.1% of market share going to Hybrids.

One of the key influences in other global markets, the cost of fuel, still remains comparatively low in the US and this removes one of the most significant drivers for change. 33.9% of vehicles sold in the US still fall within a 15-20 mpg consumption bracket, compared with only 0.28% in Europe and 0.63% in Japan.

In Europe, average CO2 emissions have reduced most significantly thanks to the rising popularity of diesel, a fuel which has 48.9 percent of Europe's market share. Japan has a tiny diesel share of only 0.11 percent, but its highly congested roads make very small and economical gasoline cars a popular choice. Currently, the U.S. market is dominated by gasoline with a 81.9 percent market share, with only 1.7 percent being diesel, according to the report.

Variations in CO2-based taxation regimes that reward or penalize certain technologies could also be a factor. Japan's high-technology driven economy, for example, favors new technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles. Additionally, European vehicle "scrappage" has gotten older, less efficient vehicles off the road and replaced them with low-polluting, fuel-efficient small cars--something that "Cash for Clunkers" aimed to accomplish.

[Source: JATO]

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