German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed her nation's automakers Thursday in a European debate over how to reduce greenhouse emissions as she opened the world's largest motor show in Frankfurt.
“The automobile industry has my support” for its position that different categories of vehicles should be given different targets for carbon dioxide emissions, the German leader said.
European Union officials have proposed an average limit of 120 grams per kilometer over the range of a manufacturers models by 2012, compared with around 160 grams at present.
A draft law on the subject is expected to be presented on December 19.
But German automakers produce a larger number of powerful cars that would make it harder to hit the target than southern European groups in Italy and France.
And the European Association Automobile Manufacturers said Wednesday that the 2012 date was too close in any case owing to long product development cycles in the industry.
Merkel, a former German environment minister, said she was “impressed” by progress made by the auto industry to preserve the environment as she toured some of the giant fair's roughly 1,000 exhibitions.
She stopped by the Peugeot, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen stands for a briefing on their newest “green” technologies.
Auto groups from around 40 countries showcased technology aimed at lowering fuel consumption and cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
But activists from the environmental group Greenpeace nonetheless staged a protest as the fair opened to the public, denouncing auto pollution by painting three cars pink and adding pigs' noses, ears and tails to them.
“Manufacturers have resorted to all sorts of tricks to transform the show into a green week,” the group's auto specialist Wolfgang Lohbeck claimed as he stood before the sprawling Frankfurt fair grounds.
The German chancellor also spoke out on plagiarism after the German group BMW accused Chinese automaker Shuanghuan of copying the now discontinued X5 sports utility vehicle.
“Common rules” were needed for all, said Merkel, who had already addressed trade issues during a recent visit to China.
“Success is only possible with respect for innovation and if intellectual property is protected,” she added.
The fair, Merkel had said earlier, was a “mirror of the German automobile industry's capacity for innovation.”
The show will be open until September 23, with an expected 900,000 visitors set to discover 260 new exhibits, including 128 by automakers and 88 world premiers.
