Analysis of CO2 Emissions and Other Characteristics of New German Passenger Cars

This work analyses the CO2 emissions and the other main characteristics (displacement, maximum and specific power, segment distribution, and weight) and their trends of diesel and gasoline new passenger cars (PCs) in Germany. This analysis concerns average values and distribution of these characteristics during the last few years. The analysis of each firm is also performed. The scope of this analysis is to better understand the reasons and the difficulties for the quite moderate exhaust CO2 decrease during last few years. The results show that average displacement remains quite constant during the years studied. However, there is a continues run to increase both power and specific power of new engines. The average weight of new diesel and gasoline PCs also constantly increases. For both diesel and gasoline PCs, there is a general tendency to increase the two extremes: small and also very big cars. CO2 emissions on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) decrease 14.6% in the case of diesel and 16.6% the case of gasoline PCs during 1995-2003. Volkswagen (VW) is the leading firm for both diesel and gasoline PC sales, followed by Mercedes. Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), Mercedes, and Audi are generally the leaders in terms of displacement, power, and weight in both diesel and gasoline PC, and generally, they also have the higher average CO2 emissions.