A leading van insurance company has been openly vocal in supporting the SMMT’s opinions on the European commission’s unrealistic CO2 emission target.

The European commission has set a target of 175g CO2/km that comes up to 42.8 mpg for van emissions by the year 2014. This target, according to the society of motor manufacturers and traders (SMMT,) is too much too soon.

While the SMMT claims that the industry is following a CO2 emissions program to its best possible capacity, the European commission should also empathise with those on the other side.

What is needed on behalf of the European commission is the construction of a legal framework that is more sympathetic and also practical to assist a low carbon economy.

The SMMT, which is a light commercial vehicle industry and manufacturer, feels that the timeframe for such a target is too little. This is because the production, development and the filtering of financially viable products has to be accounted for.

A light van or a commercial vehicle will need atleast 7 years in order to enter the market. There a number of stages involved in bringing a van into the market. Generally it begins with the concept stage and ends with marketplace availability.