European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association’s 2012 edition of its popular Pocket Guide contains new data on resource-efficient production for cars and light commercial vehicles, showing how European manufacturers have advanced in reducing the environmental impact of vehicle production in recent years, using less water and energy, and producing less CO2 and waste.
Unit production uses nearly a fifth less water than it did in 2005, total energy usage is down 3.4% despite greater vehicle complexity, and total CO2 emissions have been reduced by a tenth. The emissions of volatile organic compounds, for instance from paintshops, have been drastically reduced by 37.5% in total and by around a third per unit. Finally, the total amount of waste generated by the manufacturing of vehicles went down 4.7%.
In addition to this new information, the Guide also includes the latest key figures on employment and trade, as well as vehicle production, registration, use and taxation. The principle of the Pocket Guide is to serve as the definitive picture of the European automotive landscape today. Other facts and figures contained in the pocket guide include:
* The automotive industry creates 11.6m direct and indirect jobs in the EU
* ACEA members alone invest over Eur26 billion in R&D every year
* They operate 177 vehicle assembly plants in 16 EU Member States
* Vehicle taxes generated over Eur375 billion in government revenues
* In 2011, 66% of new cars emitted less than 140 grammes of CO2 per kilometre, and than half of those less than 120 grammes
* New in this edition is the inclusion of information about the trend in CO2 emissions from new cars by country, as well as CO2 and electric vehicle taxation.