Alfa Romeo Accuses Audi of Making Up Emission Figures

In a world where the size of the engine is less important than the fuel consumption and CO2 emission levels, it is only natural for rival carmakers to jump at each other over the figures which may make the difference in sales charts.

Alfa Romeo's new CEO for instance, Harald Wester, says the manufacturer's rivals, and especially Audi, have miraculously come up with “magical” and “extraterrestrial” CO2 emission levels.

"We need to be a little bit more serious about these figures in the long-term,” Wester was quoted as saying by just-auto.com He is especially referring to the 99g/km figure announced by Audi for the A3 1.6TDI.

“The ultra-low emission 99g/km 1.6 TDI is an advance that we are of course very proud of, but this engine is just one of a rapidly growing number of compact capacity Audi power units with forced induction that have yielded a dramatic fall in our range-wide weighted average CO2 output to 152g/km," an Audi spokesman replies.

The A3 1.6 TDI, powered by a four-cylinder engine, still packs a punch, despite the eco-approach. It develops 105 hp at 4,400 rpm and 250 Nm of torque in between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm. Mated to the S Tronic transmission, the diesel A3 does 60 in 11.7 seconds and tops at 194 km/h (120 mph).

The A3 was nominated last year, together with the Honda Insight, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Golf TDI, for the 2010 Green Car of the Year awards.