CLEPA CEO at CESA 2012

Chief Executive Officer of CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, Jean-Marc Gales will make a keynote speech at CESA 2012 on day 2.
After studying at Imperial College London and the University of Karlsruhe, Jean-Marc joined BMW in 1990 and held various positions in strategic planning, group co-ordination and organisation.
Following executive positions at Rolls Royce and Volkswagen, Jean-Marc took up the position of Managing Director, Light Commercial Vehicles at General Motors and this was followed by Managing Director, Sales, Marketing and Customer Service, Central Europe for Opel and Saab.
Between 2006 and 2009 Jean-Marc was Global Sales Director, Mercedes Benz.
In April 2009 he became Member of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Executive Vice President, Citroën.
In June 2009 Jean-Marc became Member of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën and Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing, Aftersales.
In April 2012 Jean-Marc joined CLEPA as Chief Executive Officer.

European Commission confirms 2020 emission targets for cars and vans

The European Commission put forward proposals to implement targets that will further considerably reduce CO2 emissions from new cars and light commercial vehicles by 2020. The proposals will cut average emissions from new cars to 95 grams of CO2 per km (g CO2/km) in 2020 from 135.7g in 2011 and a mandatory target of 130g in 2015. Emissions from vans will be reduced to 147g CO2/km in 2020 from 181.4g in 2010 (the latest year for which figures are available) and a mandatory target of 175g in 2017.
Connie Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action, said : "with our proposals, we are not only protecting the climate and saving consumers money. We are also boosting innovation and competitiveness in the European automotive industry. And we will create substantial numbers of jobs as a result. This is a clear win-win situation for everyone".
CLEPA welcomes theses proposals. "The 2020 targets are achievable, economically sound and cost effective, said Jean Marc Gales, CEO of this european suppliers association. The technology is already available and affordable. Limiting emissions to 95 gr/Km would add around 1000 euros to the price of car and that would be quickly paid off through savings in fuels consumption".
According to the Commission, each new car will on average save its owner around € 340 in fuel costs in the first year, and an estimated total of € 2904-3836 over the car's lifetime (13 years), as compared with the 2015 target. For vans the average fuel cost saving is estimated at around €400 in the first year and €3363-4564 over their 13-year lifetime.
Overall, consumers will save around € 30 bn per year in fuel costs and it is estimated that the targets could increase EU GDP by € 12 bn annually and spending on employment by some € 9 bn a year. The proposals would in total save 160 million tonnes of oil – worth around € 70 bn at today's prices - and around 420 million tonnes of CO2 in the period to 2030.

CLEPA supports automotive technologies against road accidents

CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers gives its firm support to the FIA’s Action for Road Safety. The campaign of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile has been launched in May 2011, in response to the challenges raised by the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The goal of the Action is to prevent five million deaths and countless serious injuries on roads around the world over the next ten years.
In 2011, in Europe the number recorded accidents reached 1.1 million in total.
CLEPA reminds that the automotive suppliers invest € 15 Billion per year in R&D and produce by far most of the equipment that saves lives. These include, among others, systems for electronic stability control, collision warning, emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring and adaptive headlights. The association supports as well the implementation of the life-saving eCall system being fitted in all new models of cars and light duty vehicles from 2015.
Jean-Marc Gales, CLEPA CEO says : “It is difficult to accept the figures associated with road deaths and injuries when effective safety technologies are available at affordable prices.”