SWEDISH CARS: BIG & SAFE BUT NOT SO CLEAN

Does this raise a problem for a certain segment of the car buying public?

In Sweden, It’s Global Warming vs. Big Heavy Cars
Ivar Ekman, July 5, 2007 (NY Times)
there's this idea (click to enlarge)

WHO
Victoria Klintberg, Saab owner; Olle Maberg, Volvo owner; Gunnar Falkemark, Swedish car industry authority; Jos Dings, director, European Federation for Transport and Environment; Magnus Nilsson, transport analyst, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation

WHAT
Volvo and saab, Swedens’ two car companies known for safety and reliability, are making plans to become more fuel efficient and to reduce tailpipe emissions.

WHEN
In February, the EU instituted requirements limiting new vehicle CO2 emissions to 6.8 ounces/mile (120 gms/km) by 2012.

WHERE
- Sweden has the highest-pollution-emitting cars in Western Europe.
- The debate in Sweden about vehicle emissions is being watched in Germany.

WHY
- Ford owns Volvo. GM owns Saab.
- To boost their domestic industries, Sweden uses taxes to incentivize driving the high-emission Saabs and Volvos. To cut emissions, such policies must change.
- Volvo and Saab are developing engines that will run on ethanol and biodiesel: 16% of Volvos sold in May 2007, up from 13% in May 2006.
- Saab is stressing “biopower” or vehicles capable of running on biofuels or gas.
- Environmentalists say these changes are inadequate.
there are answers Volvo and saab don't have

QUOTES
- Klintberg: “We’re real Svenssons…We have to have a station wagon…”
- Maberg: “It feels much safer to be in a big car than in a small one….As global warming becomes more evident…it will get more and more embarrassing to drive around in a big and heavy car like this.”
- Falkemark: “In the 1950s, when Volvo and Saab made smaller cars for ordinary people, they came to define a typical Swede…This sentiment has stuck, and people keep buying them…The tax system is tailor-made for these national treasures…”
- Dings: “This is where some of the biggest cuts will have to be made…In the U.K., company cars are more fuel-efficient than private cars, instead of the other way around, because the tax system encourages fuel efficiency rather than size.”
- Nilsson: “I’m a big believer in what engineers can accomplish…But in the last 20 years, new technology has not been used to make the cars more fuel efficient — just stronger.”