The US is still lagging behind Japan and Europe when it comes to reducing vehicle emissions, a leading provider of automotive data reveals.
According to Jato Dynamics, despite recent efforts to encourage the US market to catch up on the race to slash emissions, a study of the US car market for the first quarter of 2010 reveals that the market’s average CO2 is a staggering 268.5 g/km. This figure compares very unfavourably to Japan at an average of 130.8 g/km and Europe’s five biggest markets, which average 140.3 g/km.
However the good news is that 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," he added.
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 per cent of vehicles sold in the US still fall within a 15-20 mpg consumption bracket, compared with only 0.28 per cent in Europe and 0.63 per cent in Japan. European average CO2 emissions have reduced most significantly thanks to the rising popularity of diesel, a fuel which has 48.9 per cent of the market share. Japan has a tiny diesel share of only 0.11 per cent, but its highly congested roads make very small and economical gasoline cars a popular choice. Currently, the USA market is dominated by gasoline which has 81.9 per cent market share, with only 1.7 per cent being diesel.
However it seems Americans are more keen than their European cousins in new technologies, as Mitchell explains: “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 per cent market share in the US, while in Europe it is still only 0.5 per cent. Not surprisingly, Japan leads the way with 10.1 per cent of market share going to hybrids," he adds.
