POLITICAL ASSISTANCE
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Franco Miniero would like to see more action from Europe's politicians to assist the industry in its recovery. For instance, there could be a payload compensation for companies running CNG or electric vehicles, he says.
He is concerned about the level of investment required for the forthcoming Euro-6 emissions legislation and would like to see its introduction postponed: The improvements to air quality we [would] get from a shift to Euro-6 technology are small in relation to the [actual] costs of implementation," Miniero says,
"It would be far better to encourage a renewal of the vehicle pare in order to improve air quality. A Euro-5-compliant truck is 95% cleaner than a Euro-1 compliant truck, yet we're doing nothing to take the polluting vehicles out of circulation."
Figures supplied by Iveco indicate 19% of the UK commercial vehicle pare is pre-Euro-2 compliant, indicating quick environmental wins could be possible with the adoption of this policy.
Nothing can turn the market around like an upturn in economic activity, but this legislative fine-tuning may be the kickstart the industry needs in order to come back to life.
With the new commission taking shape, it would seem unlikely these intiatives will come quickly enough for immediate market improvement.