Car buyers searching on manufacturer websites will struggle to find out how much CO2 their prospective new car will produce and how much it will cost them to run, says a report published today by the Energy Saving Trust, Friends of the Earth Europe and We Are Futureproof.
In an online trial conducted by Ecolane, only half of the attempts to find the official CO2 value for a particular UK car were successful.
Marian Spain, Director of Strategy at the Energy Saving Trust, said: "Nowadays most people do initial online research when looking into buying a new car. Our research shows that in many cases, finding out the running costs of cars and their impact on the environment from the car manufacturer website is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Cars account for one sixth of all the UK’s carbon emissions. The gulf between the most efficient family car and least efficient family car is two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and £1,000 a year – that’s worth knowing about. At the same time, even manufacturers of low-carbon cars aren’t making the efficiency of their vehicles at all clear. I want to see the straightforward fuel economy label next to every car model viewed online so people can make informed choices."
The fuel economy label exists for both new and second hand cars and many car dealers have voluntarily signed up to use it in their show rooms. Very few however are using the label on their websites. Previous research shows that about 40 per cent of people use manufacturer and independent websites when choosing a new car. The research also shows that three quarters of people say a fuel economy label is important in helping them choose the make and model for their new car.
The survey also found that manufacturers of lower carbon vehicles were found to be no more successful in accurately informing users of their websites of CO2 information than manufacturers of high emission vehicles. Smart, Nissan and Alfa Romeo were found to be the ‘bottom three’ in terms of accessible carbon emissions data. These sites tended to have lengthy look-up times in finding CO2 values and over-use of Flash technology and PDF downloads to convey information.
Mini, Kia, Lexus and Honda websites were those that participants found easiest to access CO2 information. The average time taken to find the data ranged from 74 seconds for Lexus to 469 seconds for Alfa Romeo - nearly eight minutes.
Dr Ben Lane, Director of Ecolane and also Managing Editor of WhatGreenCar summarised the key recommendations: "The best websites at providing CO2 information from the consumer's perspective were those that: were easy to navigate and where it was clear where the CO2 data was located, provided CO2 information provided as part of basic model information, used clear and unambiguous model descriptions, and also allowed users to compare models environmental performance".
Blake Ludwig, Managing Director, We Are Futureproof, said: "More and more people want to choose greener, more efficient cars, but our study shows that some car-makers expect them to spend time hunting around confusing websites for information. Other car-markers have got it right, putting the data up-front and easy to find, and we think all companies should have to follow this model.
"Our previous research showed that a fuel economy logo on billboard advertisements doubles the chances of the public correctly identifying emissions. Fuel economy and emissions data needs to be clear and accessible everywhere cars are promoted, including websites."
Consumers are increasingly seeking out more efficient cars due to high fuel prices and the attraction of lower vehicle tax during the recession. At the same time, companies are facing a European target that new cars should emit on average 130g of CO2 per kilometre by 2015.
With these factors in mind, the Energy Saving Trust, Friends of the Earth Europe, and We Are Futureproof, are calling on car manufacturers to give CO2 data at least equal prominence to other vehicle model information. CO2 information for new cars can be found on the VCA website and the top ten fuel efficient cars are presented on the Government’s Act on CO2 website.
However, CO2 information for new cars should be as easy as possible to find to inform car buyers’ decisions. Manufacturers are doing a disservice to their customers by failing to make this data easy to access on their own websites.
Fiona McLean, European Coordinator, Car Fuel Efficiency Campaign, Friends of the Earth Europe: "Over the past two years, we have been working with our European partners, including We Are Futureproof, to examine the accessibility, reliability and understandability of fuel consumption and CO2 information in car advertising and at dealerships across the EU. This research shows that carmakers are failing yet again, and even on their own websites they are not doing enough to provide this information to consumers to help them make informed decisions."
