This certainly twitched my eyebrows somewhat. From The Times.
BMW "makes cars that are much more fuel-efficient than the likes of the hybrids built by Japanese manufacturers"
Well, that statement made my eyebrows reach the top of my forehead! If that's true, why the German consumer rush for the Pious et al?
They reckon that its down to a "colossal failure of marketing by the German auto industry".
The consumer survey final point is a real WOW:-
Within ten years ...."more than a quarter of people say that they will not have a car at all and 50 per cent say that they will have some kind of environmentally friendly vehicle: a hybrid, an electric car, a hydrogen-fuelled car or an LPG-powered car."
So its all about consumer perception then. The big question is just how much that perception is driven by marketing? Or, perhaps, how much is marketing driven by consumer perception?
Who's greenwashing who? If the Advert says it's green, then is it always so? EnviROI answers on a postcard please.
Addendum:
And on the same day that this story appears, BMW announce plans to radically reduce the CO2 emissions across their vehicle range. Details on Motoring Reuters. And other additional gizmos to reduce fuel consumption - details at What Car.
Maybe the first salvos in a new marketing effort to overcome their previous 'colossal failure'?
2 comments:
Dave,
There's so much greenwash around: it's very hard to avoid getting splattered! But seriously, a 'green' car is one that uses less (preferably a lot less) fuel, whether it is a hydrid or not is neither here nor there. Where does the energy come from to keep the hybrid's battery charged? It either comes from the petrol engine or from regenerative braking, so they only really come into their own in stop-start driving. This is why in real world driving, the fuel economy (and therefore emissions) of hydrids is often disappointing.
BMW is similar to Toyota in some ways: both have fuel efficient models with low emissions (e.g. 1 series diesel, Prius). They also have very inefficient models (e.g. 7 series, X5, X3,Landcruiser, Lexus). I would include the Lexus hydrids in the inefficient category: mid 30s mpg in official EU testing is not that great.....
'Green'is a useful word for advertisers, as it doesn't have a well-defined meaning, so it is hard to be taken to task by the ASA.............
Lawrence
Actually....
Without dropping this too much (again) 'when I was at the Guardian Climate Change Summit' Tony Juniper of FoE rather gleefully mentioned that his wife had reported the Lexus ad to the ASA and had had it removed.
It's an area I am very interested in (both as an ad man and, well, Junkk Male) as the media is littered (I use the word advisedly) with some of the worst examples of advertising and/or washing in the name of green I have ever seen.
I fear either inertia or a backlash from the consumer if it is all carried out so exsessively and/or poorly much longer.
___
Operational Note.
I am not too sure if other posters get notified of a reply. I do as I 'own' the blog and have to approve replies (Dave is an authorised poster after a long history of trusted commentary in the spirit of asking sensibly, debating ethically and, more importnatly, being proactive wherever possible). I'll have to check and see if there is a thing you clik to make those who take part aware (if they wish) of a new entry.
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