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Europe's vehicle makers have thrown down the gauntlet to legislators by restating their view that the target for average emissions of 130 g/km of CO2 by 2012 is not feasible through vehicle technology alone.

The board of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACEA, consisting of 13 chief executive officers of the big car and truck makers, says that the European industry needs an "appropriate lead-time" before legislation is introduced.

Earlier this year, a compromise between industry and environment commissioners in the European Union appeared to point towards the adoption of a legal 130 g/km average requirement by 2012.

But now Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat who is the current president of ACEA, says that the deadline is not possible.

He said: "European manufacturers operate in a fiercely competitive environment. Their investment and innovation capacity should not be crippled. The first feasible date for implementation of new legal requirements is 2015."

ACEA has also said for the first time that vehicle weight should be the defining parameter against which each vehicle type should be measured. The European Commission had indicated previously that it might investigate the potential for the specific emission limits for each vehicle to be linked to the vehicle "footprint", the space it takes up on the road.

A sliding scale for emissions is needed because different vehicle makers have ranges that concentrate on either the low end or the high end of the market. The aim would be to produce a graph whose mid-point would conform to the target 130 g/km, allowing manufacturers of the biggest cars to come in at over that figure while requiring makers of smaller cars to produce vehicles well short of the target.

The European Commission is expected to draft legislation in the next six months, but the legislation will then have to go through the European Parliament, where the carmakers and others will lobby hard for changes. If legislation is completed by the end of 2008, it will still need to go through the individual EU states' legislatures, and that could take a further 18 months at least.

So the timetable in any case for a 2012 implementation looks tight, and Europe's carmakers are aware that Japan has given its carmakers a target date of 2015 for a more lenient 138 g/km to be introduced.

But ACEA is insisting that Europe's carmakers "share an unwavering commitment" to reducing emissions. But, Marchionne said, "defining the right policy is a long process and needs thorough assessment and consideration".