The phalanx of stormtroopers we sent to the hush-hush car lobby meeting today have certainly had an effect. Even though it seems we were expected, their presence created a disturbance in the Force for the car industry bosses who had to walk past them, although for some it was all too much.
The representative from Mercedes took one look at the stormtroopers, turned his car around and drove off, and of Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn there was no sign. Could he have been hiding from us?
Two of our campaigners, Sara and Christoph, asked to be allowed into the meeting and were initially told there was no time available. When they explained that nearly 500,000 Jedi would hear how car makers were prepared to ignore them, the organisers relented. Sara and Christoph were told that a decision hadn't been reached, and in the press conference that followed this was confirmed. So car makers are stalling.
Their excuse is that it's too early in the policy-making process and they don't have enough information, but it's more likely that there's a split within Acea. We know Toyota and Renault want to support the current proposals (which would set a target of 95g of CO2 per km by 2020*) but others feel differently. As VW has four votes on the Acea board (the other companies only have one), it has huge power and so must be blocking attempts to support tighter regulations.
Believe it or not, this is good news because it means we are having an effect. Your demands for more efficient cars that use less petrol and have lower emissions have created a space for the likes of Toyota and Renault to break away from the others.
It also means we have to redouble our efforts to stop VW from scuppering these climate laws. One way to counteract VW's lobbying tactics is to make a submission to the EU consultation on reducing vehicle emissions, saying you support tighter regulations.
VW can't stay on the Dark Side forever.
* Although to really get us on track towards zero emissions, it needs to be 80g of CO2 per km.
