Data were collected from the advertisements on: the make, whether the vehicle was a SUV, whether the vehicle was "four wheel drive" or "all wheel drive" (4WD/AWD), engine size, type of fuel (unless mentioned it was assumed to be petrol), fuel efficiency and emissions profile (if reported) or any features related to these.
26 These values were calibrated to the Barcelona vehicle fleet (number of vehicles using diesel or petrol, and engine efficiency).
Its combination of high-efficiency petrol engine and rechargeable electric battery means it also has ultra-low tailpipe emissions of just 42g CO2/km – that's "mouse breath" in terms of fumes.
The move, the Greens say, would bring Australia into line with European standards and save drivers $850 a year on petrol because of improved efficiency.
The emissions of carbon dioxide from diesels are indeed lower than those of petrol cars, but other efficiency improvements to cars in the last decade, such as lighter bodies, have been 10 times more effective.
However, the longer term options of technology change should not obscure the fact that in the short term most of the emissions savings in transport will come from better efficiency of petrol and diesel vehicles.
So he remains suspicious of cap-and-trade schemes, whereby governments place an overall limit on emissions, and then sell or give away an equivalent number of tradable rights to pollute.Instead, the president wants to reduce emissions by tangential means, such as substituting ethanol for petrol, and improving the efficiency of cars and appliances.
The industry admires Mazda's decision some years ago not to develop costly hybrid or fully electric powertrains in favour of pioneering its "SkyActiv" technology, which greatly improves the efficiency of petrol and diesel engines.SkyActiv is typically pragmatic engineering from the Japanese, and just what the market wants now, says Mr Warburton.
