Green Day: carbon is all the craze at Frankfurt

There may have been horsepower highlights but green sympathies were soothed en masse on the opening day of the Frankfurt IAA Show. Indeed, with rare exceptions, all the talk -- both on and off the stands -- was about the measures, real and token, that carmakers were 'selling' at the European mega show.

The scale of the Frankfurt show astounds even regular visitors -- ten halls and then some, stretching over hectares. The Volkswagen Group's pavilion alone would occupy more space than Australia's biggest car show.

And the expenditure is even more staggering -- there are countries with national parliaments that are less grand than the big Euros' displays at Frankfurt!

None were more grand, nor more green than that of Mercedes-Benz. Launched under the Road to the Future banner, Benz's multi-storey display hid the new C63 hottie away on the third floor with the rest of the AMG 'nasties'. Instead, the three-pointed star, free from the shackles of its American other half championed a group of cars that had one thing in common -- low emissions.

Arranged signifying their timeline to production, Mercedes' fleet of 19 low-emission vehicles spanned the maker's new model plans through to 2012 and beyond. At the pointy end were Bluetec equipped diesels, ahead of Bluetec diesel-hybrids, then the maker's F700 Diesotto advanced combustion hybrid and eventually, fuel cell vehicles.

And what was telling was almost all of the above model families had production dates attached. Mercedes announced at Frankfurt that it would commence sales of Bluetec diesels in Europe this year; petrol and diesel hybrid models as early as 2009 and that a B-Class F-cell model would be sold from 2010. Baby brand Smart has already announced its low-emission plans include hybrid and pure electric models.

Archrival BMW wasn't letting the green grass grow under its feet either. In addition to highlighting its EfficientDynamics developments across its range on display at Frankfurt, alongside the conventional hydrocarbon-swilling and carbon-dioxide belching Concept X6 offroad four-door coupe, it introduced its Concept X6 ActiveHybrid brother.

Though no production dates have been set, it's certain the same system debuted in the vehicle will find its way into X5 and other models quick smart. BMW is claiming fuel consumption benefits approaching 20 per cent.

EfficientDynamics is BMW's systematic approach to improving its fleet efficiency. Given the wide range of measures it employs, BMW claims that by the end of 2008, 40 per cent of the cars it sells in Europe will have a CO2 emission of less than 140grams per kilometre. By way of comparison the latest Toyota Corolla sold Down under, itself an efficient small car, expels more than 170g/km.

The outrageous carbon-fibre bodywork on Lamborghini's latest supercar may have attracted attention in the VW Group hall, but more so, the cutaway of the hybrid drive Audi is planning to bring to market via the Q7. Skoda introduced a GreenLine of squeaky clean cars at Frankfurt and even Porsche is getting in on the act via a Cayenne Hybrid.

VW's up! concept (more here) promises 3.0lt/100km fuel economy when it comes to market, though even at today's official show unveil real specs and details were scant. What has surfaced is that the maker will show two further concepts at upcoming shows -- probably Tokyo in October and Detroit in January.

Insiders say the platform can be stretched in length and a more upright 'tallboy' version is also possible. No truth in the rumour, however, that specially personalised versions will be offered under the name: upyours!

The Japanese showing could be interesting too, especially if Toyota rolls out another version of its low-emission IQ concept.

Though the world's biggest carmaker gets the short shrift at IAA located away from the action in remote Hall 8, the IQ drew plenty of interest. Featuring innovative 3+1 seating, the IQ is 28cm longer than a Smart and 56cm shorter than Fiat's nuovo 500. Absolutely no news on how it's powered to those low emissions alas.

Back in the real world, VW's own BlueMotion clean diesels were supplemented with new powertrain variants for Golf, Golf Plus, Jetta and more. Six new models in total... A more telling sign of the times at VW and Frankfurt were dedicated 'CO2 point' information kiosks whose primary purpose was for showgoers to be able to compare various models' greenhouse gas output. Remember when it used to be kW and km/h?

At least one brand appeared blissfully unaware of the carbon cacophony -- Jaguar.

While the rest of the industry talked tough on emissions and promised to hit the ground running with technology that would deliver fuel and emissions benefits to real world consumers, Ford's ye olde worlde 'for sale' luxury car basket-case unveiled its new XF saloon and waxed lyrical about the tightly stretched lines and using more timber than any model since the MkII.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the green army is gathering. On the surface at least, Jaguar's almost complete disregard for the sensitivities of ever more carbon conscious consumers appears to be yet another nail in its real-wood coffin...

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