Supercar makers needed to do something to strengthen their green credentials.
Its just not cool anymore to have a car thats outrageously bad for the environment.
They would definitely be looking at a fall in sales if they didn't change
with the times. Now Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini are all investing a
lot of effort and money into creating more efficient vehicles both to satisfy
customers and to meet new CO2 regulations being introduced in Europe in
2014 and the U.S.A. two years later. Supercars currently have terrible fuel
economy. The Lamborghini Murcielago uses about six times as much gas as
a Smart Car!
Porsche will be selling hybrid cars as soon as 2011, but it'll only be hybrid
versions of the Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan, which are definitely not
supercars. They have no plans to hybridize their top model, the 911 sportscar.
Lamborghini hope to lower fleet carbon dioxide output by 35% by 2012. But
they don't have a defined strategy on how they're going to do this. At the
moment its just a figure plucked out of the air. Lamborghini only say they're
looking into a variety of ways to improve fuel mileage such as stop start
technology, hybrids and biofuels. They will definitely be looking to reduce
vehicle weight and enhance existing car engines into more efficient engines.
Lamborghini have said they're happy to spend U.S$50 million over the next
5 years on this project.
Ferrari have clearer plans for producing more efficient vehicles. They've
successfully tested a hybrid engine in the Ferrari 599 and want to be selling
hybrid supercars in 2015. They are spending more than Lamborghini on this
too - half of their total development budget is being channeled to creating
economical vehicles.
Ferrari and Porsche have closed the doors on electric cars because they
say the loss of engine and tailpipe noise will detract from the character
of the car. If electric sportscars turn out to be a large market though
I think they'll go back on their word though, otherwise they'd be losing
a lot of customers. I find it amazing that I'm talking about both efficient
sports cars and electric sports cars! Things are changing very quickly in
the world of motoring and who knows what we'll be talking about in ten years
time.