Renault, Toyota, Volvo Meet Europe CO2 Targets 3 Years Early

Renault, Toyota and Volvo Cars have already reached their 2015 carbon dioxide emission targets, according to the European Federation for Transport and Environment.

Each carmaker in Europe has its own EC-determined fleet average CO₂ goal. Renault beat its 2015 target of 143.4 g/km last year with an average 142.2 g/km, the environmental group says. Toyota's average in 2012 was 122.1 g/km 4.4 g/km below its 2015 target. Volvo's average last year was 142.2 g/km compared with a target of 143.4 g/km.

The three carmakers join PSA, which surpassed its emission goals in 2011. T&E expects BMW, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai and Volkswagen to achieve their corporate targets this year.

Companies with the biggest cuts still to make are Nissan (6.2%), Honda (9.1%), Suzuki (9.2%) and Mazda (9.6%), according to T&E.

The industry's new-car fleet averaged 132.4 g/km last year and is required to achieve a CO₂ average of 130 g/km by 2015 and 95 g/km by 2020.

The lobbying group continues to argue against "supercredits" that allow carmakers to multiply the actual sales volume of vehicles that have CO₂ emissions of 50 g/km or less by 3.5, thus lowering their fleet averages. The agency estimates that supercredits produced an artificial reduction in the industry CO₂ average of about 0.6 g/km last year.