Greenpeace attacks Volkswagen over its environmental record
Tue 28 June 2011
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Volkswagen is accused by a Greenpeace report of exaggerating its environmental record and of resisting attempts to improve the efficiency of its popular models. Europe's largest car maker has made less progress on fuel efficiency than its main rivals and, according to Greenpeace, is actively seeking to hinder EU plans to cut climate change emissions by 2020.
In a 24-page report - The Dark Side of Volkswagen - Greenpeace claims that despite having an image as a family friendly, green brand, VW Group has made less progress on fuel efficiency than rivals such as BMW and Toyota. Between 2006 and 2009, VW reduced its average emissions per kilometre by 7.8 per cent, whereas BMW and Toyota achieved reductions of 18 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.
The report says that VW puts its most efficient engines in only 6 per cent of its cars and inflates their price by more than their cost, deterring the wider adoption of greener motoring.
According to The Independent, Greenpeace intends to target VW with a high-profile crusade, starting with the unveiling of a poster campaign in London featuring a Darth Vader mask with the VW symbol and the words "Volkswagen. The Dark Side." It intends to step up its efforts in coming months through social media and publicity stunts.
VW produced over 11 per cent of the world's cars in 2010 and has developed cleaner engine technologies under the BlueMotion brand. The lowest emission Golf has an efficiency rating of 99g of CO2 per kilometre.
BlueMotion is VW's umbrella brand for products and technologies which are helping to increase efficiency in the company's vehicles. It covers the interaction between a number of technologies including recuperation, the start-stop system and NOx exhaust after-treatment. VW says that these technologies work together to make vehicles more economical and reduce emissions.
In a response to the attack, a VW spokesman told Marketing Week that Greenpeace’s views would get his company’s full attention, adding that the spoof campaign came as a “bit of a shock because we’ve never been attacked on an environmental front before”.
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