CO2 penalties on premium vehicles would kill company, Porsche says.

Automakers are notorious for screaming "can't do!" whenever new emissions, safety and/or fuel economy regulations are imposed, and then – as economics overtake inertia – figuring out ways to do what they'd said was impossible.

Some day, of course, the tipping point will be reached and they will be asked, or told, to do what turns out to really be impossible.

If we knew when that would happen, we'd be out playing the futures market instead of sitting behind this computer keyboard.

But Porsche apparently believes it does know when, and says that when is now.

The German performance car maker's manager for energy and environment has said in an interview with Automotive News Europe that new carbon-dioxide reduction goals being proposed by the European Commission are impossible for his company to achieve if it is to remain Porsche.

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Challenge wants to encourage more cars like Audi's clean-diesel racer.

DETROIT -- The American Le Mans Series, already a showcase for diesel power and ethanol-blend fuel, will inaugurate a "Green Racing Challenge" this year encouraging automakers to put developing  environmental and fuel economy technologies to the test on the track.

Scott Atherton, ALMS chief executive, said at a press conference at the Detroit auto show that the series has formed a green racing coalition with the federal Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Society of Automotive Engineers International, to develop criteria for the Challenge.

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Egads! First there were only the econobox models: Honda's two-seat Insight and the first-generation Toyota Prius. Now there are more than half-a-dozen hybrid sedans and SUVs and more coming.

Even the luxury market is becoming crowded, giving dual meaning to the term "green car."

Toyota's Lexus brand kicked off the luxe hybrid segment with its Lexus RX 400h crossover SUV. That was followed by the LS 600h sedan. Coming soon are hybrids from Audi, BMW, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. Exotic carmaker Fisker Automotive will show its hybrid performance car next week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

And now comes word that Porsche plans a hybrid version of the upcoming four-door Panamera GT.

The gas-electric hybrid will use the same system as the Cayenne Hybrid scheduled to hit the market in 2009.

Porsche said the high-performance four-door will carry its electric batteries under the luggage area with the electric drive unit mounted between the engine and transmission.

It will operate as a two-mode hybrid, able to run either in all-electric mode for short distances, or in all-gas mode or with both systems engaged as a sort of electrically supercharged power plant..

Although several reports published last summer had Porsche introducing the hybrid version right away, the automaker said it plans to introduce the Panamera next year with traditional internal combustion power plants and will add the hybrid system at an undisclosed future date.

Can the gas-electric Ferrari be far behind?

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Image courtesy of Porsche Cars North America, Inc.

It's not just us!

Analysts at economic consulting powerhouse Global Insight report that new emissions- and fuel economy-based automotive tax programs that began January 1 in France and Spain spurred "panic" buying of big cars in both nations during December.

Global Insight reports that in France, December sales of Mercedes-Benz cars soared by 69.9 percent; BMW sales jumped 38.4 percent and Audi sales rose 25 percent.

In Spain, the rush was for sport-utility vehicles. Sales of SUVs jumped 40.7 percent during the last month of the year, in advance of imposition of what the Spanish call, to Porsche's delight we expect, "el impuesto Cayenne," or the Cayenne tax.

Seems that even in Europe, usually held up as an example to Americans of how to be more environmentally responsible, a goodly portion of the populace still loves those gas guzzlers and was lining up to buy before fuel economy taxes were imposed.

In France as of the start of the year, cars and light trucks that spew the highest levels of carbon dioxide were hit with a CO₂ tax of 2,600 euros ($3,800 at today's exchange rate), while the biggest CO₂ producers in the Spanish auto market are now subject to a 14.5 percent purchase tax.

We'll be watching to see what those taxes do to car buying trends in those countries over the long term.

Wonder if anyone in Washington will be watching as well?

Mercedes-Benz is counting on its new clean diesel engines to help boost sales in a U.S. market suddenly consumed by fuel economy concerns.

But the German luxury carmaker could get another big benefit from diesel sales here: the increased mileage diesel cars and trucks deliver could save it millions of dollars a year in the fines it regularly pays for exceeding the federal CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standard.

For 2006, the most recent figures available, Mercedes – through its then-parent DaimlerChrysler -- paid a record $30.3 million in CAFE fines, according to data posted recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency.

As we reported previously, the record for the highest annual fine had been held by BWW of North America, which paid $27.9 million in 2001 (breaking its own record of $27.3 million set in 2000).

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If you’ve ever looked upon an XXL SUV and wondered what kind of person would drive such a gas hog in the face of An Inconvenient Truth, you’re not alone. General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz says many owners of the Cadillac of urban assault vehicles — the Escalade — are wondering the same thing.

“Many of them are in show business or sports and they are starting to get leery of their public image of driving around in a vehicle that manifestly consumes a lot of fuel,” he told Green Car Advisor on the first day of the LA Auto Show. GM’s response: The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. Or as Lutz put it, “guilt-free Escalade driving.”

Never mind that the Escalade Hybrid might only get 19 miles per gallon. And never mind  that its price — at least $60,000, but otherwise unspecified — is a lot of money for a vehicle that’s unlikely to match any of the muy macho, mountain-conquering moves common to sport-ute commercials.

What really matters is that this Escalade model will bear “H Y B R I D” stickers across both sets of side doors and sport GM’s green “H” badges in multiple locations, which should make image-conscious celebrity owners feel better about themselves.

Cadillac isn't alone in worrying about image. Engineers at Chrysler, Dodge and Porsche also are working hard to boost the fuel economy of some of their petrol-slurping machines.

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Production version of Honda FCX concept (above) will be unveiled at  the LA Show

Although environmental transportation isn't a central theme of this year's Los Angeles auto show, there's still a touch of green to be found among the displays at the LA Convention Center.

Green used to be a big thing for the West Coast's premier auto show, but that was before environmental issues became part of just about every auto show on the calendar.

From Detroit to Tokyo, these days they all have a green component, ranging from the unveiling of concepts that explore things like plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and the hydrogen future to the introduction of production models that give us the newest in gas-electric hybrids and alternative fuels such as diesel and ethanol.

In LA this year, events will include an announcement Thursday morning of the Green Car of the Year award winner. Nominees for the award, sponsored by the Green Car Journal magazine, all are hybrids this year, and three are from General Motors: The Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Saturn Aura sedan and Tahoe SUV hybrids. The other finalists are the Mazda Tribute SUV hybrid and the Nissan Altima sedan hybrid.

As the 2007 show prepares to open its doors this week, for a two-day media preview Wednesday and Thursday and to the general public Friday evening for a 10-day run, here's a look at what to expect.

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BMW and Mercedes-Benz are neck and neck in paying fines for violating U.S. fuel economy standards. Each of the German luxury carmakers has paid more than $200 million in fines since 1983.

There’s CAFE, the corporate average fuel economy requirement that most major automakers try to meet each year, and then there are CAFE fines.

CAFE works at least a little—the National Academy of Sciences found that it cut oil consumption in 2002 by 2.8 million barrels a day and suggests that overall savings can be measured in billions of  barrels. But the fines, which have not been raised in a decade, don’t seem to be having much impact in the fuel economy drive, especially on German carmakers.

In 2005, the last year for which the data is available, BMW, DaimlerChrysler—mostly its Mercedes-Benz unit -- Volkswagen, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati and Spyker all paid CAFE fines — the total was $25.2 million. DaimlerChrysler, at $16.9 million, BMW, at $3 million, and VW, at $1.1 million, accounted for 90 percent.

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Although there's plenty of development work on alternative fuels and power plants going on in U.S. automakers’ R&D labs, the industry is consumed these days with fixing its collective financial woes and there's not much noise being made about advancing green technology. Not in the U.S., anyhow.

We likely won't hear too much about what's close to being market ready until the carmakers and the UAW complete their ongoing master contract negotiations and possibly not until the hype around January's Detroit auto show begins.

But Asian and European car companies, including European subsidiaries of both Ford and GM,  are stepping in to fill the environmental void, with a spate of clean diesels and gas-electric hybrids in the works. A lot of green goodies will be shown off at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show, which begins a two-day press preview on Tuesday.

Here's a look at what's on tap.

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