ASA upholds complaint against Audi advertisement citing certified fuel economy figures
Wed 27 March 2013
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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against an advertisement which appeared on the Audi website stating that the "The A3 16 TDI is the most fuel-efficient Audi ever returning a quite remarkable 68.9mpg on a combined cycle". The ASA said that the company should have qualified the figure to make clear to readers that it was based on an EU test for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results.
The complainant, who had bought the car, challenged whether the claim "68.9mpg" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they had not been able to achieve that fuel consumption when driving the car.
In evidence provided to the ASA, Volkswagen Group UK Ltd (VW) said that the fuel consumption figure quoted was obtained from the manufacturer's tests carried out in accordance with European regulations.
VW explained that fuel consumption figures did not give an accurate representation of the actual fuel consumption which could be expected from any particular vehicle and were provided only to enable comparisons between different vehicles or models. They pointed out that the VCA (the designated UK Vehicle Type Approval authority) themselves made clear that new car fuel consumption and CO2 emissions official figures were not fully representative of real life driving conditions because of the need to maintain strict comparability of results achieved by the standard tests that were carried out.
VW also said that there are infinite variations in driving styles and in road, car and weather conditions, all of which could have a bearing on the results achieved. For these reasons the consumption achieved on the road would not necessarily accord with the official test results.
The company said that the basis of the VCA guidance was well known by consumers and said the use of such figures in this context and in motor vehicle advertising generally, without explanation as to the way such figures were produced or whether they were representative of real-life driving, was completely standard across the industry.
In its decision, the ASA acknowledged that the means by which fuel efficiency figures for vehicles should be calculated was set out in European legislation and that the website had given the correct figure for the model advertised. It also said that it understood that such figures, by their nature, had to be generated under test conditions so that consumers could compare them on a like-for-like basis.
However, the Agency considered that it was unlikely to be clear to the average consumer that the figure quoted was based on a standardised test and was not necessarily representative of what they would achieve when driving the car themselves. For that reason it considered that VW should have qualified the figure to make clear to readers that it was based on an EU test for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results. Because they had not done so the ASA concluded that the claim breached the Code.
Th ASA told VW to ensure they qualified official fuel consumption figures to make clear that they were official EU test figures to be used as a guide for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results.
For full details, see the ruling on the ASA website.
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