With Europe’s carmakers facing a likely demand that they cap their models’ CO2 emissions, the European Parliament has backtracked.

The Parliament said that sufficient lead-time is needed.

Therefore, it said that mandatory targets for CO2 emission reductions cannot enter into force before 2015.

In addition, the Parliament called for ‘realistic’ targets saying that limit values should be set according to the weight of the vehicle.

The Parliament has also urged EU countries to reach an agreement on the Commission’s proposal to harmonise car taxation in relation to CO2 emissions.