The poll - carried out by TNS Opinion - probed close to 5000 people in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. An overwhelming majority (87 per cent) stated that measures to reduce the fuel consumption of new cars by a quarter - equivalent to the 120g CO2/km target being discussed by MEPs - should be introduced urgently.
Almost half (46 per cent) of respondents think that requiring manufacturers to reduce the fuel consumption of vehicles is the best way to reduce harmful emissions from cars, ahead of tax incentives (27 per cent) and promoting fuel-efficient cars through better information (13 per cent).
Also, around two thirds (64 per cent) of citizens support the statement that such measures will be good for their national economy because people will buy less fuel and have more money to spend on other things. Respondents listed fuel consumption (64 per cent) as the most important factor, apart from price, when choosing a new car. Safety was second (37 per cent) and environmentally clean third (26 per cent).
The findings seem to show that citizens don't buy carmakers' claims that the proposed legislation would damage their industry.
German respondents felt the most strongly that requiring manufacturers to reduce fuel consumption was the best way to improve efficiency, despite the German car industry's attempts to weaken the planned legislation.
"Citizens are sending a loud and clear message to politicians and carmakers to shift fuel efficiency up a gear," says Jeroen Verhoeven, car efficiency campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Car fuel efficiency is a simple, effective and sustainable way to reduce Europe's climate changing emissions. MEPs should listen to their constituents and vote for a regulation which is guaranteed to deliver a 25 per cent reduction in fuel consumption by 2012."
The lack of progress by the car industry on fuel efficiency is highlighted in a new advertising campaign launched today by Friends of the Earth Europe and Transport and Environment (T&E). The two environmental groups are calling on MEPs to vote for fuel efficiency targets (120g CO2/km by 2012 and 80g CO2/km by 2020).
The adverts show the 1948 and 2008 models of the Volkswagen Beetle which, despite sixty years of advances in automobile design, share the same level of fuel efficiency. The post-war Beetle used 7.5 litres per 100 km driven. The 2008 Beetle 'Luna' 1.6 Petrol uses the same.
Kerstin Meyer of T&E states: "For the last six decades, carmakers have been innovative in everything but fuel efficiency. And they have failed to notice that times have changed. We need fuel efficient cars that minimise impacts on the environment."
"If new cars were twice as efficient as they are today, we'd be on the right track. It's up to MEPs to set the targets, and to Europe's top automotive talent to produce the goods," she adds.
