There is a renewed focus on emissions testing standards with one lobbyist calling for one testing agency across Europe, while Porsche boss Matthias Mueller is favourite to take on the role of CEO at VW.
IHS Automotive perspective | |
Significance | The EU should set up a pan-regional body to test vehicle emissions in the wake of the VW scandal according to lobby group Transport and Environment (T&E) as Europe's largest OEM prepares to name a new CEO following a supervisory board meeting today after the departure of Martin Winterkorn. |
Implications | Transport and Environment wants a new regulator to be funded by a EUR20 levy on all new vehicle sales, although it will prove a difficult to task to persuade national governments and regulatory bodies to agree on the establishment of such a body. Meanwhile Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller has emerged as the favourite to be appointed new VW Group CEO. |
Outlook | As things stand at the moment each individual EU28 member country is responsible for testing vehicles and regulating the EU emissions standards and any call for a pan-European testing agency will have to integrate the new global emissions standard, the World Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP),which is due to be introduced in 2017. |
In the wake of the Volkswagen (VW) emissions scandal there have been calls for a new pan-European vehicle emissions testing body to be paid for out of a compulsory EUR20 (USD22.4) levy applied to every new car sold in the region. The Transport and Environment (T&E) lobby group has made the suggestion amid growing concerns that the emissions test results that were falsified in the US may also have been compromised in Europe. In a statement the T&E's clean vehicles manager, Greg Archer said, "What is needed is a truly independent EU type approval authority funded by a levy of 20 euros on every vehicle sold." Europe lacks any kind of pan-regional emissions testing and enforcement body such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which discovered the discrepancies between NOx emissions of VW diesel vehicles between the test cycle and real world driving conditions.
Meanwhile VW will today announced its new CEO to replace Martin Winterkorn following his departure in the wake of the scandal. According to numerous press reports Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller is the current favourite for the role. Mueller has overseen Porsche doubling its sales and becoming the main profit generator for the VW Group since he was appointed to the role in 2010, following a varied engineering and business career at VW. If Mueller is appointed, he will be expected to come up with results quickly in terms of restoring customer trust and showing shareholders, government and environmental agencies that the company is doing all it can to be transparent and get to the bottom of the decision-making processes and chain of responsibility that led to the so-called "defeat device" being fitted to the EA189 engine. Newly appointed head of the VW passenger car brand Herbert Diess has been mentioned as another possibility, but he has only recently joined the firm from BMW. Mueller is thought to be favoured by the Porsche and Piëch families that control Porsche Holding SE, which has a controlling interest in VW.
Outlook and implications
There is growing concern in Europe over the possible implications of the VW emissions testing scandal that was discovered by the EPA and the Californian Air Resources Board (CARB) in the US. After VW admitted that there are potentially 11 million vehicles worldwide fitted with the so-called "defeat device" technology it was clear that the majority of these vehicles would have been sold and in used in Europe, with is by far the biggest regional diesel market in the world. More than half of the cars sold in Europe are diesel-powered and they have been given a favourable ride in terms of tax regimes, while OEMs in Europe have favoured the technology because of the superior fuel consumption it can offer consumers and the lower CO2 emissions the powertrain technology offers, with EU legislation on emissions significantly weighted towards lower CO2 emissions, rather than an emphasis on particulate or NOx emissions. It is not clear if a co-ordinated, cross-border approach to NOx emissions testing across Europe would have made much difference, however. The tests in the US are more rigorous anyway and any co-ordinated response would have to be integrated into the move to introduce the new World Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) which is designed to be a far more accurate simulation of real-world driving conditions that the existing New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) The European automakers association ACEA said the new Euro-VI standard will soon require emissions testing of cars under all driving conditions. In a statement the ACEA said, "The automotive industry is fully supporting the development this new Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test in order to ensure a more robust control on emissions." Western European governments have reacted with alarm to the VW revelations. The French government has stated that it will form its own independent commission to test cars at random to check real-world emissions, while the UK government is also planning to conduct its own spot-check emissions tests to see whether stated figures match real-world driving conditions.
Meanwhile it appears likely that Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller is at the top of the list of candidates to replace Winterkorn. Diess is too new to the organisation in all likelihood and the other serious candidate, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, is regarded as being too close to Winterkorn and does not have an engineering background. Mueller will have to show the world that VW is serious about changing its culture if he is appointed, However, given VW's unique shareholding structure and the influence of the State of Lower Saxony and the company's powerful works council lobby this will be no easy task.