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Aston Martin Chief in Emission Claims that don’t add up
By The Anglo American | September 3, 2008
Aston Martin CEO Overlooks Full Environmental Impact
Aston Martin’s Chief Executive has spoken out against proposed EU emission laws that would penalize luxury car companies such as his. In a recent interview {Financial Times} Ulrich Bez has claimed that owners of these sports cars cover such little mileage that their real world emissions are very low. He also suggested that emissions should be calculated on a car’s Carbon Dioxide emissions against yearly mileage rather than a CO2 per kilometer test.
Aston Martin has so far proved to be a profitable and successful organization since its unwinding from the Ford Motor Co. But pressure is growing from EU legislators to take action against gas-guzzlers. London already imposes a daily levy on cars being driven around the center of the city. But it has recently introduced a 25 British Pound {around $48US} daily charge for cars with questionable green credentials, such as the Aston Martin DB9.
But while Mr Bez’s arguments are almost as seductive as his cars, many environmentalists will not be persuaded by such a narrow definition of what constitutes car pollution.
Which could mean that it is not that Aston owners hardly use their cars, but they are not using them enough!
Owners of Aston Martins may spend more time looking at them than driving them, so the car’s emissions might appear negligible. But Mr. Bez overlooks the considerable pollution created to get one of these pretty cars into a wealthy private owner’s car pool.
Between 15% and 25% of a car’s lifetime pollution is spewed out into the atmosphere by the time the thing leaves the factory gates {Product Sustainability Index - Ford Motor Co.}.
Since no data exists from Aston Martin let us assume that Mr. Bez’s cars are no better or worse than any other manufacturer. As these cars travel on so few roads this statistic will be skewed to where the manufacturing pollution must be considerably higher, in terms of the car’s life cycle.
The flaw in Ulrich Bez’s thinking could have long-term repercussions for survival of Aston Martin. Most cars, including some expensive ones, are designed to drive us from A to B. Aston Martins are not. As Mr. Bez knows, Aston owners have many different cars in their garage. Amongst them, we can presume, there will be one to carry out the more mundane task of transportation and rack up the miles. So we can only assume that the modern Aston Martin is to be admired, and driven round the block so that others may admire it too! In other words, as transportation, they are irrelevant.
There will come a time when such indulgent use of the world’s diminishing resources will be regarded as socially unacceptable. Such profligacy may even prove to be criminal. But if the law does not rebuke people for excessive multi-car ownership then fashion certainly will. Putting a wind turbine on the roof of your extensive car hall will be regarded as an act of hypocrisy - out of touch with the times.
To survive, Aston Martin will need to rediscover that form follows function. It may end up being the only car in the driveway. Can a modern Aston Martin survive such daily punishment? We know a Porsche can and there lies the real future challenge for Aston Martin.
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September 4th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
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