European, Japanese and American heavy-duty vehicle and engine manufacturers call for global policy

Over a dozen chief executives of the global commercial vehicle industry – including Caterpillar, Cummins, Daimler, Hino, Isuzu, Iveco, Mack, MAN, Mitsubishi Fuso, Navistar, Nissan Diesel, Scania, Volvo and Volkswagen, met today in Brussels to discuss various opportunities and needs their industry is facing. The discussions focused primarily on the issues of climate change and global energy security, but also covered global air quality- related emissions standards, improved fuel quality and specifications for renewable fuels.

The manufacturers agreed to actively encourage global policy cooperation and to provide their expertise to ensure that regulatory developments enhance the industry’s technological progress within realistic time and economic constraints. “A coordinated global approach for our industry is the most effective way to contribute to achieving global fuel efficiency improvements from the road freight sector”, said Leif Östling, Chief Executive Officer of Scania and Chairman of the ACEA Commercial Vehicle Board, who hosted the meeting in Brussels. “We serve a global market place, and want to avoid conflicting regulations from different regions. That is simply too costly, and impedes technological progress.”

“The world’s leading commercial engine and vehicle manufacturers are well aware of the importance of fuel efficiency to their customers and support global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global cooperation in developing specific requirements, as well as metrics and methodologies to evaluate fuel efficiency, provides needed elements to further improve the environmental performance of our vehicles and increases the efficiency of goods transport. That will serve both our customers and the environment,” added Östling.

It is the seventh year that the chief executives of the global commercial vehicle and engine manufacturers met to address important industry issues on a global level. The meetings bring together representatives of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).

Continuing the progress made at previous meetings, the executives discussed how the global harmonisation of technical standards affecting heavy-duty engines and vehicles could further improve environmental performance and road freight movement efficiency.

Among the key topics addressed at the meeting were:

• Ongoing activities in Japan, US and EU on fuel efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles
• Progress in developing a globally accepted method for the certification of heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles
• The use of computer simulations to evaluate fuel efficiency of the diverse commercial vehicle configurations and usage
• The positive outcome of the UNECE efforts in establishing a Global Technical Regulation for gaseous emissions testing of heavy-duty engines (WHDC gtr)

As a result of today’s meeting, the chief executives agreed to initiate through OICA a proposal to UNECE to develop a certification procedure of heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles based upon the HILS procedure used in Japan and to ask UNECE to address this issue with urgency.

Furthermore, and in relation to exhaust emission requirements, the manufacturers agreed to recommend the introduction of legislative requirements regarding market fuels, in order to ensure that the appropriate, high-quality fossil and renewable fuels are globally available for today’s vehicle technologies. The commercial vehicle industry will work with the oil industry to underline the importance of this issue and ensure a constructive dialogue.

Considering the positive outcome of the UNECE process on establishing a harmonised engine certification procedure for emissions related to air quality, the chief executives encourages UNECE to take advantage of this momentum and initiate activities with the objective to develop metrics and methods to measure fuel efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles and engines and for evaluating fuel efficiency improvements of components related to air and rolling resistance.

Mr Daniel Ustian, Chairman, President, and CEO of Navistar, extended an invitation to the eighth Global Commercial Vehicle Industry Meeting in the USA in 2010.