Car buyers often find manufacturers' fuel consumption figures for their vehicles less than credible. A new catalog of standards, which is to be closer to real consumption than its predecessor, is to provide a remedy as early as 2014, reported "Automobil Industrie" on September 3, 2010.



Since December 2008, it has been more or less official that the fuel consumption stated in car brochures does not necessarily have much in common with the actual consumption of the vehicle. The following court case confirms this: A premium vehicle had swallowed almost ten percent more fuel on the road than promised. The manufacturer was sued and lost in court.



The EU in Brussels, which had made the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC standard cycle) the mandatory standard for manufacturers, was also targeted as the culprit. It now wants to introduce the so-called WLTP cycle (Worldwide Harmonized Light Duty Test Procedure), which is to be defined by 2014 and come into force by 2020 at the latest.



The discussion raises a very sensitive side issue: Will e-mobility still be classified as emission-free in the process?



You can read more about this topic in the September issue of "Automobil Industrie" from September 3, 2010. You can order a free sample copy from: gunther.schunk@vogel.de.