The Motor Show in Frankfurt went all “green” this year under the motto “See What Will Move Your Future.” The cars industry started to make concessions in favour of the European environment policy focused on reducing CO2 emissions.

E-flex for German Chancellor and commuters

The German chancellor Angela Merkel took part at the opening of the 62 edition of the International Motor Show in Frankfurt ( 13-23 September) at the wheel of an Opel Flextreme, having as copilot the Opel manager Hans Demant.

Opel’s Flextreme concept car boasts the completely new environmentally friendly E-Flex electric propulsion concept and shows the car maker’s commitment to reduce CO2 emissions and the dependency on petroleum. The front doors open in the conventional manner, the rear doors are rear-hinged.

E-Flex system uses a hybrid motor that electrically drives the Opel Flextreme for up to 55 km CO2 emissions free, which is a sufficient driving range for most daily commuters in Europe. The car can switch to Diesel gas for 715 km with no refill stop. The new Opel aims at re

Cahncellor Merkel found the as an ideal solution for commuters. Other car makers have shown interest in eco-solutions: The Continental produces the hybrid engines Emitec, of Turingia while Bosch focuses on a new generation of injection pumps.

Finding eco-solutions

The costs of purchasing and maintaining a car have gone up 31% in the last ten years, which doubles the increase of prices in general. The Diesel gas went up 91.6% while the purchasing price 12.9%.

Despite this, the dependence on cars has grown and the traffic around Europe creates a high degree of pollution. This is the reason why the carmakers’ investments aim the fuel and environment technologies such as electric charging, bio-ethanol, compressed gas, hybrid engines.

Porsche promoted a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV, while BMW presented a hybrid sports activity vehicle Concept X6 (SAV) due out in 2009. Volkswagen brought the new SAV -- the "Tiguan", a smaller and cheaper version of its Touareg model that might be priced at 8000 euros.