Carmakers Turn ‘Green’ But is it a Smokescreen?

Green is the colour at the Frankfurt International Motor Show, with carmakers tripping over each other to make eyebrow-raising claims their vehicles are “clean” and environmentally friendly.

But is it all just a giant green smoke screen?
Even while showing off their new-found clean and green credentials, carmakers filled hall after hall in Frankfurt with powerful, tyre-squealing sports cars boasting up to 530 horsepower, or giant gas-guzzling SUVs.

After long resistance to the debate over climate change, carmakers have shifted into overdrive, insisting they have long been working on low-emission cars and are not bowing to political pressure to reduce greenhouse gases.

In any event, some serious low-emission and even zero-emission cars shown in Frankfurt are in the pipeline or about to hit the market.

Juergen Resch, head of the DUH environmental group, added his doubts about whether there had been a real change of heart.

“For years they all indulged in the madness of ‘bigger, faster, heavier’ and now they’re all presenting breathtaking concept cars with low emissions,” he said. “But anyone who believes they’ve converted will be bitterly disappointed.”

Planet Ark