The European Commission has published proposals aimed at combating climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.
The new regulations that have divided the commission will come into force in 2012.
The commission is recommending that cuts to the greenhouse gas emissions from cars be both radical and compulsory.
The move is needed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by road transport, to reduce problems associated with global warming.
The car industry, led by Germany, has objected, saying the scale of reduction, will drive up the price of cars and cost jobs.
The new standard for emissions in cars will provide for an average target of 130g/km of CO2 to be achieved by 2012.
At the moment the European average figure is 161g/km.
But there are great variations in the output, with small cars like the Citroen C1 easily beating the target, while big cars like the Mercedes S class emitting almost twice the target amount.
This has caused a row between the makers of big luxury cars - most of which are German - and the commission, which is supported by the makers of smaller cars, most of whom are French or Italian.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is the current EU president, has also weighed in with support for the German motor industry.
