Porsche 2008 Annual Report Download - page 124

122
Environment
The automotive industry is undergoing changes. Changes brought
about by discussions on climate protection that have had a strong in-
fluence on the public consciousness. For European customers, en-
vironmental impact is already among the top five criteria when decid-
ing to purchase a vehicle.
No question about it: mobility is a critical factor for the health of the
economy and society at large. Globalization and international trade are
not possible without the transport of goods and personal travel. This
makes it more important than ever to make this increasing mobility
environmentally friendly, commercially viable and socially responsible.
It is the responsibility of the automotive industry to continue reducing
the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of vehicles.
Cars more economical
The German automotive industry has proactively taken on this challenge
in the past. In the seventies and nineties of the last century, it promis-
ed to reduce fuel consumption. The extent of their success can be seen
in two examples. Firstly, modern vehicles consume an average of two
liters less fuel per 100 kilometers than at the beginning of the nineties.
Secondly, the distance driven per liter of fuel has increased two thirds
since 1978. At that time, a car could go about nine kilometers on a liter
of fuel, while today the figure is 15 kilometers.
Despite the continued growth of road traffic, due in part to the relaxa-
tion of borders in Europe and the enlargement of the European commu-
nity, Germany’s CO2 emissions peaked in 1999. Road traffic CO2 emis-
sions have fallen since then, with the figure for 2006 down 1.5 million
tonnes on the 1990 values. No other Western European country has been
able to do this.
This positive trend continued into the last two years. In 2007, the aver-
age CO2 emissions of passenger cars newly registered in Germany fell
a further 1.7 percent, with an even steeper reduction seen for newly
To our shareholders Financials
The Company