Clean break

As legislation governing emissions from both private and commercial vehicles tightens, so automotive engineers are being employed in ever increasing numbers to create the cleaner, greener vehicles of the future.

The EU has proposed that from 2012 average carbon dioxide emissions for new private cars should be 120g/km. For engineers, this creates a design challenge. With some luxury marques emitting more than 300g/km, unless changes to current powertrain systems are made, owners will face a per-gram penalty that rises every year from 2012.

As a result, manufacturers are investing heavily in new engineers who can meet this challenge and deliver a new generation of lean vehicles with low environmental impact.

Last year,

announced a £700m investment to develop new environmental technologies for its vehicles. To support this and other actions the company initiated a recruitment programme for around 600 new staff, mostly in engineering roles to work on the creation of more fuel-efficient and cleaner vehicles.