A reminder that the French Car Festival is on Sunday 1 November at Como Park North, Melway 2M, 2D, enter via Alexandra Avenue. Entry is $5. Two members have kindly volunteered to act as marshals, so you can go along without fear of being given a job. We need as many Pugs there as possible, so if you’re doing nothing else, please go along and show the club flag. _Here are two press releases issued by PSA-Peugeot/Citroen in response to the VW emissions scandal:_ PEUGEOT PLANS TRANSPARENT FUEL ECONOMY TESTS PARIS – The Peugeot group said it will publish real-world fuel economy figures for its diesel vehicles vetted by an independent body. The automaker’s action follows rival Volkswagen’s admission that it installed software in up to 11 million diesel engines designed to fool official emissions tests. “We know that we have a favourable positioning and we want to exploit this favorable positioning by letting people know about it,” chief financial officer Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon told reporters in Paris on October 26. In a statement PSA/Peugeot-Citroên said it has never fitted its vehicles with software that turns on emissions controls only when the vehicle is being tested in a laboratory, as VW has admitted to doing. De Chatillon said PSA wanted to reduce confusion among its customers by publishing independent, real-world numbers. He said PSA has been a leader in clean diesel technology with measures such as fitting particulate filters to reduce soot emissions 11 years before the EU mandated them. PSA has also equipped all its new Euro 6-compliant diesel engines with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) emissions control technology, the most effective way of reducing NOx emissions, he said. PSA said it will also adopt technical measures ahead of a new testing regime in Europe, starting with implementing “zero” electrical energy balance, which reduces the ability of a car to fool type approval tests. A PSA spokeswoman said the automaker aims to publish real-world numbers next northern spring. The testing has not started yet because PSA has not finalised discussions with the independent body, she said. The tests will be conducted on the best-selling models of PSA’s three brands – Peugeot, Citroên and DS. The figures will be on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption only, the spokeswoman said. PSA relies on diesel, especially in its home market of Europe. Diesel vehicles fell to 65 per cent of PSA’s European sales in the third quarter, from 67 per cent a year earlier, even before the September 18 revelations of VW diesel test-rigging had time to affect demand. DIESEL SHIFT In the wake of the VW emissions scandal, PSA faces a challenge in adapting to a shift in demand from diesel to petrol engines, particularly in France, where policymakers are increasingly hostile to diesel. An acceleration of car buyers switching to petrol-powered vehicles in Europe may represent a risk to PSA’s margins, as diesel models generate more profits, de Chatillon said. Even so, the company plans to cope with this risk by progressively adapting its pricing policy, and “it will remain a clear advantage for our clients to use a diesel car” because of lower fuel consumption and reduced carbon emissions from the vehicles, he said. VW’s use of “defeat” software in diesel engines to pass U.S. emissions tests has raised questions in Europe about the testing process for both NOx, a harmful pollutant, and C02, which is linked to fuel economy. Diesel vehicles have been encouraged in some European markets because they produce less CO2 — a major greenhouse gas — than petrol vehicles. However, they produce higher levels of NOx. Environmental campaigners have complained for a long time that vehicle emissions on the road that are far higher than laboratory tests show. The European Union is now considering introducing real-world testing starting in 2017. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, admits it has known for years of discrepancies between real-world driving and emissions levels in laboratories where new models of cars are tested for compliance with EU law. “– From Automotive News Europe, Bloomberg and Reuters. PEUGEOT TAKES THE INITIATIVE TO PUBLISH REAL-WORLD FUEL ECONOMY FIGURES PSA Peugeot Citroën press release | 26/10/2015 | Paris The plethora of recent reports on emissions testing has underlined the importance of compliance procedures and their proper application. In this context, the chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën asked the Group’s engineering teams to carry out verifications in this area and make recommendations for improvement. The group conducted an in-depth review of its situation with regards to emissions and fuel efficiency. Regarding emissions, PSA confirms that its vehicles have never been fitted with any software or device that detects emissions testing and triggers a pollution treatment system, including for nitrogen oxides (NOx), that is inactive in normal driving conditions. The group stresses that its vehicles are compliant and that 4,300 vehicles were selected at random off its production lines in 2014 to verify compliance with type approval. PSA is the first carmaker to have extended “BlueHDi” Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology across all its diesel Euro6 passenger vehicles. This exhaust treatment system, for which PSA holds around 100 patents, is recognized by numerous publications as being the most effective NOx treatment technology. PSA’s experience in this area and the investments it has already made to develop this technology put the group on track to meet the demands of the new WLTP standards, set to be introduced in 2017. In the same vein, PSA invented the particulate filter 11 years before it became a legal requirement for all carmakers with the introduction of the Euro 5 standard in January 2011. For information, in the first half of 2015, sales of diesel vehicles accounted for 60.3% of PSA’s sales in Europe and 41.9% worldwide. Regarding fuel efficiency, PSA emphasizes its leadership in the field, which is underpinned by its recent technological advances such as the EB PureTech petrol engine (voted engine of the year in 2015 in its category), Blue HDi diesel technology, high-performance automatic transmissions, and lighter platforms. The current European approval test New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), which dates from 1992, is widely recognized as not reflecting real-world driving. Like any laboratory test, it gives rise to optimizations, including at PSA, which the regulators are aware of but which have been criticized by independent bodies and other observers. These optimizations, including unequal electrical energy balance (battery charge levels, alternator use, etc.), will no longer be accepted by the new test, Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) currently under discussion at the European level. PSA stresses that it fully supports the introduction in 2017 of this new standard (WLTP and Real Driving Emissions (RDE), which more accurately represents real-world conditions. Committed to maintaining its customers’ trust, PSA Peugeot Citroën takes the initiative to: * Publish real-world fuel economy figures for its main vehicles as soon as possible, with the process overseen by an independent body; * Adopt technical measures to anticipate the future WLTP procedure, starting with implementing the “zero” electrical energy balance for type approvals on any new vehicle/engine. Reference: The International Council on Clean Transport Report – September 2015
