Cash for clunkers: performance cars will survive beyond 2015

The introduction of proposed carbon-dioxide emissions limits in 2015 will not be the end of the road for performance cars -- but their engines may get smaller, and go quiet when you're stopped at a red light.

The current range of Porsches, Ferraris and high-powered Holden and Ford performance cars are all above the proposed national fleet emissions average of 190g/km due to come into effect in 2015.

But new technology and some clever book-keeping will likely keep these and other performance brands out of extinction.

While future Holden V8 and Ford V8 engines will eventually be smaller in capacity, both brands will still need to rely heavily on the popularity of their small car stablemates to help offset their emissions.

Car makers are allowed to sell gas guzzlers but they must be offset with sales of fuel-efficient models.

That shouldn't be too much of a challenge for Holden's or Ford's fast-car divisions.

Holden Special Vehicles sells between 4000 and 5000 V8 performance vehicles each year -- which accounts for less than 5 per cent of all Holden sales locally.

Ford Performance Vehicles sells between 2000 and 3000 V8 and turbo cars each year, which accounts for less than three per cent of all Ford sales locally.

Therefore both brands should be fine in the medium term future as Holden sells more Barina and Cruze small cars and, soon, the Spark -- and Ford sells more Fiesta and Focus small cars and the like.

At the other end of the performance car spectrum, Porsche and Ferrari have already begun adopting fuel saving measures even though they can aggregate their vehicle emissions with the emissions of small cars sold by their respective parent companies.

Porsche's Panamera sedan and Cayenne softroader have stop-start technology that automatically switches the engine off when the car is stationary at traffic lights -- and switches it on again when the light goes green.

Ferrari's California convertible also has stop-start technology, plus the Italian maker has announced it will have a hybrid sports-car as well as a 1000kg lightweight model called the "milli chilli" (1000kg in Italian) to assist with its emissions average by the year 2013.

But all this is incidental, given that both Porsche and Ferrari are part of much larger corporations.

Porsche is owned by Volkswagen, and so it will be able to aggregate its emissions figures with thousands of super-efficient VW Polo and Golf hatchbacks, as it does in Europe.

Likewise, Ferrari is owned by Fiat, so it will be able to aggregate its emissions figures with local sales of Fiat cars.

Ferrari already has a head-start in Europe. Fiat recorded the best overall reduction in vehicle emissions sold in Europe in 2009, according to figures compiled by JATO Dynamics.

Fiat's average emission figure for every vehicle it sold in Europe in 2009 was 127.8g/km, according to the analysts, making it the best performing brand for CO2 emissions in Europe for the second year in a row.

The figure also meant that Fiat beat the European fleet target average of 130g/km five years ahead of its implementation in 2015.

Ferrari recorded the single biggest drop in emissions across the vehicles it delivered in 2009 -- by 53.6g/km -- while the Fiat Group as a whole (which includes Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari combined) had the lowest average of any major automotive group for all vehicles sold in 2009: 131 g/km.

Meanwhile Fiat has announced another ace up its sleeve. It has just released one of the world's most efficient engines in the Fiat 500 hatchback, a tiny turbocharged two cylinder 900cc engine that has the same performance as a 1.4-litre four-cylinder. With a fuel rating average of 3.4L/100km it uses less fuel than a Toyota Prius or a Smart ForTwo.

That ought to help sell a few more Ferraris.

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