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P 140530Z MAY 08
FM AMCONSUL MUNICH
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RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUNICH 000175 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD PGOV EINV PREL FR GM
SUBJECT: AUDI ON EU CO2 RULES, THE FUTURE OF THE AUTOMOBILE, AND THE 
U.S. MARKET 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
REF: (A) MUNICH 100; (B) BERLIN 560 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (SBU) Senior Audi officials told ConGen Munich they share BMW's 
view that proposed EU CO2 rules represent nothing less than French 
industrial policy.  Going a step further, they made the questionable 
argument that the EU rules would effectively "kill" the European 
auto industry while achieving little benefit to the environment. 
The Audi officials added that the European subsidiaries of U.S. 
firms Ford and GM were, in Audi's view, part of the problem, as they 
appeared to have sided with the French and Italian manufacturers of 
smaller cars, rather than with the German premium manufacturers. 
Unlike BMW, Audi stopped-short of praising the Merkel government's 
efforts on behalf of the German auto industry.  Like BMW, Audi has 
an aggressive research program to build cleaner cars for the future, 
although leaving more advanced technologies, such as hydrogen, off 
the table for now.  Despite the impact of the weak dollar, Audi 
appeared largely unenthusiastic about possibly opening a U.S. 
production facility.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
AUDI: EU RULES WOULD "KILL" EUROPE'S AUTO INDUSTRY 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In a follow-on to an earlier meeting with BMW on EU CO2 
regulations (Ref A), ConGen Munich met with Audi officials at the 
firm's Ingolstadt headquarters, including Senior V.P. for the 
American Region Matthias Braun, Head of Government Relations 
Brigitte Manitz, Product Manager for American Region Peter Kremer, 
and Volkswagen Group's Manager for Research and 
Development/Authorities and Regulations Dr. Klaus-Peter-Schindler. 
Like their BMW counterparts, the Audi officials were skeptical of 
proposed EU CO2 rules limiting auto producers' CO2 emissions to 
120g/km based on a fleet-wide average by 2012.  The Audi officials 
not only shared BMW's view that the EU rules represented French 
industrial policy, but going a step further, argued that the 
proposal would effectively "kill" not only the German automotive 
industry, but the European auto industry as a whole, while achieving 
relatively little in the way of cleaner air. 
 
¶3.  (U) When asked about the dire prediction of the demise of the 
European auto industry, Manitz explained that it would be nearly 
impossible for the German premium segment to survive under the EU 
rules.  According to Manitz, without the premium segment the German 
auto industry would find it difficult to compete only in the low-end 
market, given the significant cost advantages enjoyed by Asian and 
Eastern European manufacturers of small cars.  Additionally, 
Germany's smaller, less expensive cars benefit from the 
technological developments that "trickle-down" after being initially 
engineered into its expensive premium models.  Manitz argued that 
the extensive R&D that goes into expensive models can't be justified 
for cheaper cars -- a loss which will not only affect the German 
industry, but other European manufacturers that benefit from 
technology licensed from German firms, putting all European 
manufacturers at risk. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
GOING AFTER LOW-VOLUME PRODUCERS ACHIEVES LITTLE 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶4.  (U) Like BMW, our Audi interlocutors made it clear they were not 
opposed to environmental regulation, but wanted rules that 
safeguarded a level playing field among all car manufacturers. 
Manitz argued that the EU rules focus too much on the relatively 
small number of heavy premium cars sold in Europe, while effectively 
ignoring the much larger market share of smaller, lighter cars.  To 
illustrate their case, the Audi officials explained that if the 50 
car models with the highest CO2 emissions reduced CO2 emissions by 
20 percent, the overall CO2 emissions from automobiles would drop by 
just 0.5 percent.  However, a 20 percent CO2 reduction for the 50 
highest-selling cars in Europe (mostly smaller, lighter cars) would 
reduce overall automotive CO2 emission by 14 percent.  In other 
words, the current proposal would devastate Germany's relatively 
low-volume premium sector, but achieve little overall environmental 
impact.  Manitz said Audi would also like the EU to take into 
account other factors in formulating CO2 rules, including efficiency 
of automotive systems such as air conditioning, and a phase-in 
period for the rules which takes the product development cycle into 
 
MUNICH 00000175  002 OF 003 
 
 
account. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
U.S. MANUFACTURERS NOT HELPFUL; BERLIN COULD DO MORE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Our interlocutors observed that the European subsidiaries 
of U.S. manufacturers Ford and General Motors appeared to be 
lining-up with French and Italian manufacturers of small cars like 
PSA (France) and Fiat (Italy).  They referred to a case in which 
Ford and GM had intervened with the Belgian car manufacturer's 
association, preventing it from taking a position on CO2 emissions 
that would have been favorable to manufacturers of heavier cars. 
The Audi officials said this lack of unanimity among German car 
manufacturers on CO2 rules made lobbying more difficult [Note: 
Separate Mission Germany discussions with Ford and GM suggest 
whatever daylight exists between German manufacturers is minor, and 
that both U.S. manufacturers are firmly against the EU proposal. 
End Note].  Manitz added, however, that ultimately Audi was in a 
better position than BMW or Mercedes given that it was part of the 
Volkswagen Group, which offered a broader range of cars than its 
competitors, helping it to mitigate the impact of any new rules on 
the company.  When asked if Audi believed the Merkel government in 
Berlin was doing enough to defend the interests of the German auto 
industry, Manitz obliquely answered by saying the French government 
does a very effective job of looking-out for French economic 
interests when formulating environmental and other policies. 
 
---------------- 
AUDI FUTURE-TECH 
---------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Asked how Audi viewed the future of the automobile given the 
increasing demand for clean technology, Schindler told us he 
expected gasoline would remain the predominant fuel until the middle 
of this century.  He noted that Audi, like BMW, was committed to 
diesel technology, and was currently working on improving a "clean" 
diesel engine design originally developed by Mercedes.  While 
diesels accounted for nearly half of sales in Germany, Audi was 
cautious about the prospects for diesel sales in the U.S. given the 
lingering negative image from earlier generations of diesels.  As 
with BMW, Audi anticipates a menu of technologies will be used to 
address the demand for less polluting transportation, rather than a 
single dominant propulsion source. 
 
¶7.  (U) Audi is particularly focused on developing better battery 
technology, given its application to both hybrid and fully electric 
vehicles.  Schindler said Audi was not as bullish on hybrid 
technology as other manufactures such as Toyota, arguing hybrids 
only make sense in relatively heavy stop-and-go traffic conditions 
where their efficiency comes into play.  Breaking with its BMW 
brethren, Audi is notably unbullish on hydrogen fuel cell 
technology, arguing that, in addition to the cost of producing 
hydrogen fuel, fuel cells take up too much valuable space within the 
car.  Furthermore, hydrogen fuel cells would be produced with 
expensive precious metals which manufacturers would have to import 
from sources such as Russia.  Schindler also saw little promise in 
biofuels, particularly given the dramatic increases in food prices 
recently.  Additionally, the energy required to produce and 
transport biofuels (ethanol can't be shipped via pipeline like 
gasoline, for example) gave them little or no CO2 advantage over 
traditional fossil fuels. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
WILL AUDI JOIN BMW AND MERCEDES IN THE U.S? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Although Audi has a goal of roughly doubling its sales in 
the U.S. to 200,000 units per year by 2015, Audi officials appeared 
unenthusiastic about setting-up production in the U.S, as BMW and 
Mercedes have done.  While the current weak dollar might argue for a 
U.S. plant, Braun noted future exchange rates may be very different, 
perhaps making this strategy less attractive.  Braun said U.S. 
production would make sense if Audi could sustain sales above 
150,000 units per year.  However, Audi would also want to have at 
least 80 percent local content allowing it to minimize the cost of 
shipping components across the Atlantic.  Braun said one possibility 
for U.S. production would be if Audi parent Volkswagen were to set 
up a U.S. plant again, as it did in Pennsylvania from 1978 to 1988. 
Manitz said that another complicating factor was that BMW and 
Mercedes had experienced difficulties building a skilled labor force 
in their U.S. plants, given the lack of an apprenticeship system as 
Germany has.  Braun explained that while the U.S. remains a very 
 
MUNICH 00000175  003 OF 003 
 
 
important market for Audi, other markets, notably China, offered 
greater opportunities for Audi's attention at the moment. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Audi's views of the EU's proposed carbon-reduction rules 
closely mirror those of BMW, including plainly calling the rules 
French "industrial policy."  Audi's views diverged from BMW's, 
however, in some notable areas.  While BMW was relatively quick to 
express satisfaction with Berlin's efforts on behalf of the German 
auto industry, Audi was reluctant to do so.  We also had not 
anticipated Audi's criticism of Ford and GM -- something we had not 
heard from BMW.  Audi's argument that the European auto industry 
would be fatally strangled by the EU rules strikes us as simply 
overstated, and clearly intended to elicit opposition to Brussels' 
plan. 
 
¶10.  (U) This report has been coordinated with Embassy Berlin and 
Consulate General Duesseldorf. 
 
¶11.  (U) Previous reporting from Munich is available on our SIPRNET 
website at www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/munich/ . 
 
NELSON