The third quarter of 2010 has shown overall co2 reduction in cars slowing with only a reduction of 1.6% between quarter one and quarter three. In the third quarter of 2010, average CO₂ emitted by new cars was 143.35g/km, compared to 145.6 g/km of CO2 in the first quarter.

The ending of the scrappage scheme in the second quarter of this year brought an end to the easy CO₂ gains from increased sales of small cars. Now the industry is battling against a headwind as people move back to traditional buying patterns, with more medium sized cars being sold at the expense of small ones. The overall CO₂ improvement so far this year has been marginal, despite the fact that individual models have performed better, simply because customers are now buying bigger cars.

Jay Nagley, publisher of Clean Green Cars commented, "Car manufacturers are introducing new technology, particularly in petrol engines, to reduce CO₂ emissions. This is encouraging, but they are now a long way behind the curve. The chances of the whole industry hitting 130g/km by 2012 look extremely slim."

There are now three manufacturers below the overall EU target; Toyota, Fiat and Mini.

To calculate the CO2 emissions in your fleet, use the Fleet News CO2 emissions calculator.