Fiat is pushing its ecodrive system, software that analyses your driving patterns and makes recommendations on how to improve fuel efficiency. So far, the software will works with Puntos and 500s fitted with Fiat's on board computer system, but there are plans to extend it to other models. Once you've loaded the software via a USB stick and driven around a bit, the results can be transferred to your computer for analysis and advice on how to make improvements. Maybe someone could invent some software that could do the same for Fiat and give them some advice on how to make the EU targets instead of worrying about the penalties they'll have to pay for not meeting them.

The Fiat 500 1.2 petrol engine currently emits 119g CO2 per km, which is already below the EU proposed targets but other models in the range need a fair bit of work to get their emissions down. And remember that the targets are averaged across the manufacturer's entire fleet, so having the odd model that makes the grade won't be good enough. They still need to make substantial changes across their entire range.

So we'd like to see Fiat going the extra mile to get CO2 emissions down by improving the car, rather than relying on the ecoskillz of the driver, though to be fair it does look like a clever little invention.

According to a report from Transport and Environment, Fiat's average CO2 emissions were 141g per km in 2007, so if they put their minds to it they might make 130g by 2012.

Audi is working on a successor to its A2 car, which was discontinued in 2005. Back then, the A2 had surprisingly low CO2 emissions, with the 1.2 TDI coming in at just 81g per km (no that's not a typo) beating the smart's best of 88g per km hands down.

You might wonder why the A2, with its low CO2 emissions even by today standards, went out of production so fast. Well the reason according to Wikipedia, was not fuel economy but the design, which was considered to be ahead of its time.

Now I'm not an expert in car manufacturing, but it seems to me that Audi could score a point or two by getting the old A2 back in production before the 2012, instead of waiting for the new version which is scheduled for 2014. The VW group's average emissions in 2007 were 163g per km. Imagine what it would be if they reintroduced the A2 and spent some cash marketing it as an eco-car.

Though it's not exactly news, BMW does have a couple of models that meets the targets, according to the Green car website.

The BMW 318d Saloon at 123g per km and the BMW 118d 3 and 5-door models at 119g per km all cut the mustard. BMW's has made the biggest reduction of its fleet CO2 emissions, down to 170g in 2007 - a 7.3% improvement from the previous year. Its percentage improvement was double what any other maker achieved but it still has some work to do if it doesn't want to ditch some of its heavier models in 2012.