Tough new emissions and economy standards on both sides of the Atlantic

End of the line for the Corvette and others of its ilk?

It's been an interesting week for car manufacturers worldwide, with both the EU leadership and the US government pushing forward with plans for stricter fuel economy and emissions standards in the future.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission proposed new legislation to reduce the average CO2 emissions from cars by 20% to 120g/km by the year 2012. The proposals come after many months of lobbying by car manufacturers and green campaigners have already derided them as being too lenient, but further watering-down is believed to be inevitable thanks to Germany's influence on behalf of Mercedes and BMW.

Over in America on the same day, President Bush signed into law a new Energy Bill that will require an average fuel consumption rate of 35mpg by the year 2020 (the figure in the U.S. currently stands at just over 26mpg). GM was quick to look for sympathy, lamenting as it launched the new Corvette ZR-1 that it could be the last of the breed.

But maybe we shouldn't be too quick to despair. Replacing the millions of family hatchbacks, SUVs, people carriers, delivery vans and trucks on our roads with cleaner alternatives will make a massive impact on emissions and fuel consumption. Weighed against this, limited exemptions for low volumes of performance and sports cars shouldn't be a difficult case to argue.