Fiat Automobiles has again shown its commitment to a cleaner environment following the announcement that its average CO2 emissions figure on cars sold in Europe during the first half of 2009 has dropped to 129.1 g/km.

The new figure – corroborated by automotive advisory leader JATO – means that Fiat is the only mainstream car brand to achieve the European average goal, of 130 g/km by 2015, five years early.

Of the top 10 brands, Fiat is ahead of Toyota (132.9 g/km), Peugeot (134.5 g/km), Citroën (138.1 g/km), Renault (138.9 g/km), Ford (140.4 g/km), Opel (149.5 g/km), Volkswagen (152.5 g/km), Audi (162.6 g/km), and Mercedes (178.8 g/km).

One important contribution to this result is the enormous growth of environment-friendly natural gas as an alternative fuel for passenger cars. During the first half of 2009 around 65,000 Fiat Natural Power cars, with an average of 115.8 g/km in CO2 emissions, were sold in Europe, a figure more than 13 g/km less than the brand’s already recording-breaking average.

This achievement contributed to the establishment of another record: Fiat Group Automobiles is number one in the results posted by manufacturing groups (132.9 g/km), in front of Toyota, PSA, Renault and Hyundai.

"Improving the environment is not a goal for the future, but something we can do right away," says Lorenzo Sistino, CEO of Fiat Automobiles. "These figures show the unceasing dedication Fiat lavishes on seeking innovative solutions to control polluting emissions and the level of CO2.

"But Fiat’s commitment has always been to the public’s real needs and won’t be stopping here. Our aim is actually to reinforce our European record in emissions reduction by introducing new engines, new technologies and new applications.

"New engines are being introduced – like the innovative MultiAir technology on petrol engines, making them capable of guaranteeing up to 10 per cent lower CO2 emissions, and the new generation of Common Rail MultiJet diesel engines that will make their debut on the Punto Evo and that will be gradually adopted on all of our Group’s cars.

"New technologies, like Start&Stop, introduced on the Fiat 500, is now standard on all Punto Evo Euro 5 engines. Start&Stop can cut CO2 emissions in the urban cycle by as much as 12 per cent.

"Other applications such as eco:Drive – our innovative software programme – allows drivers to analyse personal driving styles so as to optimise consumption and emissions. Sixty thousand people have downloaded it in less than a year since its launch, and 25,000 are using it daily."

Attention paid to sustainable mobility is part of a strategic undertaking by the entire Group. Fiat Group was recently acknowledged as a leader in terms of sustainability following its entry into the Dow Jones Sustainability (DJSI) World and Dow Jones Sustainability STOXX Indexes.