Volkswagen Group
Based on its 2019 annual report, Volkswagen Group is set to exceed EU emissions targets by 29 CO2g/km, which could result in potential fines of a staggering €30.2 billion - the highest sum of the top ten manufacturers. This is due to the large number of sales reported in 2019, which would cost VW Group a staggering €88.6 billion to offset - or 70% of their annual revenue.
Increased sales are largely responsible for the manufacturer’s carbon footprint, as analysing the brand’s best-selling models reveals lower average emissions than other manufacturers.
Cost to Offset
Volkswagen Group - Top Models
Breaking down the best-selling models from each brand owned by the Volkswagen Group reveals a total carbon footprint of 43.6 billion kg/CO2, which would cost €6.5 billion to offset. VW Group also produced three of the top ten most popular flagship models on the market last year - the Škoda Kodiaq, the VW Touareg and the Audi Q8 - which brings the total cost of offsetting emissions to €7.6 billion.
VW
Best-Selling Model
Tiguan
Number Sold
264,762
Carbon Footprint
14,244,195,600KG
Cost to Offset
€2,136,629,340
Škoda
Best-Selling Model
Octavia
Number Sold
218,439
Carbon Footprint
11,752,018,200KG
Cost to Offset
€1,762,802,730
Audi
Best-Selling Model
A4
Number Sold
102,994
Carbon Footprint
5,541,077,200KG
Cost to Offset
€831,161,580
SEAT
Best-Selling Model
Leon
Number Sold
136,622
Carbon Footprint
7,350,263,600KG
Cost to Offset
€1,102,539,540
VW Commercial
Best-Selling Model
Caravelle
Number Sold
65,663
Carbon Footprint
3,532,669,400KG
Cost to Offset
€529,900,410
Porsche
Best-Selling Model
Cayenne
Number Sold
20,102
Carbon Footprint
1,081,487,600KG
Cost to Offset
€162,223,140
Lamborghini
Best-Selling Model
Urus
Number Sold
967
Carbon Footprint
52,024,600KG
Cost to Offset
€7,803,690
Bentley
Best-Selling Model
Bentayga
Number Sold
991
Carbon Footprint
53,315,800KG
Cost to Offset
€7,997,370
Bugatti
Best-Selling Model
Chiron
Number Sold
28
Carbon Footprint
1,506,400KG
Cost to Offset
€225,960
Average Model Cost
Flagship Models
Škoda
Kodiaq
Number Sold
88,516
Carbon Footprint
4,762,160,800KG
Cost to Offset
€714,324,120
Volkswagen Group
Touareg
Number Sold
25,565
Carbon Footprint
1,375,397,000KG
Cost to Offset
€206,309,550
Audi
Q8
Number Sold
17,627
Carbon Footprint
948,332,600KG
Cost to Offset
€142,249,890
The Auto Emissions Report
The Auto Emissions Report created by NetBet Casino dissects industry studies and annual sales reports to reveal how far the ten best-selling auto manufacturers are from meeting 2021 EU carbon emission targets, and how much it would cost them to offset their carbon footprint over the past year.
The EU fleet-wide average emission target of 95 CO2g/km and fines of €95 per CO2g/km are as stipulated by EU legislation. All sales figures are from the latest year available and relate to the European market, or US if not available in the case of the Ram 1500. The following brands were excluded from the analysis due to insufficient sales data: Daihatsu and Abarth.
The average CO2 emissions for each brand is determined by Greenpeace. The cost to offset emissions relates to the mean cost of pulling CO2 from the atmosphere at €150 per tonne. The annual and lifetime running costs of flagship models are based on the emissions of each engine as stipulated by the manufacturers and are multiplied by 20,117 km per year for 12 years, based on the average lifespan of a new car.
Data is gathered from auto manufacturers' annual sales reports, manufacturer sites, EUROPA, transportenvironment.org, Greenpeace, CarSalesBase and Carbon Engineering’s study on pulling CO2 from the atmosphere.