Bra start för EU:s bilhandlare – men VW tappade fyra procent

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (French: Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles; abbreviated ACEA) is the main lobbying and standards group of the automobile industry in the European Union. As of February 1991 it is the successor of the CCMC manufacturers committee (French: Comité des Constructeurs du Marché Commun) which was founded in October 1972. Its members include: BMW, DAF, Daimler AG, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Europe, Hyundai Europe, Iveco, Jaguar Land Rover, Opel Group, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Toyota Europe, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars and Volvo Group. One major area of ACEA work including its predecessor associations has been in performance quality classifications for 4-stroke engine oils. That history goes back to 1919 (Bureau Permanent International des Constructeurs d'Automobile - BPICA) that was renamed in 1985 (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles - OICA). The ACEA has its predessor in the CMMC (Comité des Constructeurs du Marché Commun) founded in October 1972 by French (Citroën, Peugeot, Renault), German (Mercedes, Volkswagen), Italian (Fiat) and British (BLMC) manufacturers. The ACEA is studying electric vehicle charging stations and expects that Type 2 Mode 3 connectors also to be used for home charging in the second phase after 2017 while still allowing Mode 2 charging with established plug types that are already available in home environments There is no unified association of manufacturers which sell in the European Union (independently of the European, Asian or American origin).

Europeiska frihandelssammanslutningen (engelska: European Free Trade Association, EFTA, franska: Association européenne de libre-échange, AELE), ofta kallad Efta, är en europeisk frihandelsorganisation grundad 1960 av Danmark, Norge, Portugal, Schweiz, Storbritannien, Sverige och Österrike. Syftet med Eftasamarbetet var att skapa fri handel för industriprodukter mellan länderna. Efta kallades under 60-talet ofta för "Outer seven", de västeuropeiska länder som inte tillhörde "Inner six", det sistnämnda då syftandes på medlemsländerna av EEG, sedermera känt som EG och slutligen EU. Avtalet som låg till grund för skapandet av organisationen kallades Stockholmsavtalet och undertecknades den 4 januari 1960. Avtalet kom till med anledning av att Italien, Frankrike, Västtyskland och Beneluxländerna skapande ett frihandelsavtal inom Europeiska ekonomiska gemenskapen. När Sveriges utrikesminister Östen Undén och övriga sex representanter signerade ratifikationsprotokollet på Utrikesdepartementet den 3 maj 1960 skedde det med bläck och penna från det skrivställ som Frankrikes drottning Marie Antoinette en gång skänkte Sveriges kung Gustav III. Mellan 1972 och 1973 slöts ett frihandelsavtal mellan Europeiska frihandelssammanslutningen (Efta) och Europeiska ekonomiska gemenskapen (EEG). Av rädsla för eller snarare beroende på Sovjetunionens utveckling, dröjde det nästan 30 år innan Finland 1986 blev fullvärdig medlem. Storbritannien och Danmark lämnade organisationen för EG 1973, Portugal gjorde samma sak 1986. Sverige, Österrike och Finland gjorde under 1994 klart att de också skulle ta farväl av Efta och istället ge sig in i EU. Efta anses ha mindre betydelse numera, eftersom alla nuvarande medlemsländer har långtgående frihandelsavtal med EU, antingen EES eller Schweiz EES-liknande avtal. Europeiska frihandelssammanslutningens säte finns i Genève i Schweiz.

On 18 September 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Volkswagen Group, after it was found that the car maker had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate certain emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing. The programming caused the vehicles' nitrogen oxide (NOx) output to meet US standards during regulatory testing, but emit up to 40 times more NOx in real-world driving. Volkswagen put this programming in about eleven million cars worldwide, and in 500,000 in the United States, during model years 2009 through 2015. These findings stemmed from a study on emissions discrepancies between European and US models of vehicles commissioned in 2014 by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), summing up the data from three different sources on 15 vehicles. Among the research groups was a group of five scientists at West Virginia University, who detected additional emissions during live road tests on two out of three diesel cars. ICCT also purchased data from two other sources. They provided their findings to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in May 2014. Volkswagen became the target of regulatory investigations in multiple countries, and Volkswagen's stock price fell in value by a third in the days immediately after the news. Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned, and the head of brand development Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Audi research and development head Ulrich Hackenberg, and Porsche research and development head Wolfgang Hatz were suspended. Volkswagen announced plans to spend US$7.3 billion on rectifying the emissions issues, and planned to refit the affected vehicles as part of a recall campaign. The scandal raised awareness over the higher levels of pollution being emitted by all vehicles built by a wide range of car makers, which under real world driving conditions are prone to exceed legal emission limits. A study conducted by ICCT and ADAC showed biggest deviations from Volvo, Renault, Jeep, Hyundai, Citroën and Fiat. A discussion was sparked that software-controlled machinery will generally be prone to cheating, and a way out would be to make the software source code accessible to the public.