Energy label
Who lost their energy label
Between 2020 and today the scale was re-cut twice. The biggest losers are not the thirsty cars but the ones sold as the economical choice.
The obvious answer is wrong
You would expect a tightening of the energy label to hit the gas guzzlers. It does not. Measured across more than 36'000 petrol and diesel cars actually registered between 2020 and 2024, the loss of grades follows an inverted curve: it rises to around 6 litres and then falls away to nothing. The thirstiest vehicles lost nothing at all, because they were already in the worst category.
Consumption (l/100 km) Grades lost Vehicles
The category in the car’s own registration year against its category today.
Cars around 6 litres are hit hardest: 3.48 grades on average.
The economical diesel of 2020 is the E-grade car of 2026
These type approvals were category A when registered and would be category E today, on unchanged consumption of 5.67 litres.
- BMW 320d A → E
- BMW 116d A → E
- BMW X1 sDrive18d A → E
- BMW 218d Active Tourer A → E
- Audi A4 Avant 35 TDI A → E
- Audi A5 Sportback 35 TDI A → E
The car did not change. The yardstick did.
One real car, twenty-five years
BMW 530d xDrive, unchanged: A in 2003, D on today’s scale.
| ’03 | ’04 | ’05 | ’06 | ’07 | ’08 | ’09 | ’10 | ’11 | ’12 | ’13 | ’14 | ’15 | ’16 | ’17 | ’18 | ’19 | ’20 | ’21 | ’22 | ’23 | ’24 | ’25 | ’26 | ’27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | B | B | C | C | D | D | D | C | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
3 grades in 25 years – nothing about the car changed.
For 2012 to 2019 no public source can corroborate the category; it is computed, not confirmed.
The same car, different registration years
One petrol car with unchanged consumption, according to the year it was first registered.
| l/100 km | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | A | A | A | B | B | C | C | C |
| 5 | A | A | A | B | B | D | D | D |
| 6 | A | A | B | C | C | E | E | E |
| 6.5 | B | B | C | D | D | F | F | F |
| 7.5 | D | D | E | E | E | G | G | G |
| 9 | F | F | F | F | F | G | G | G |
| 10 | G | G | F | G | G | G | G | G |
The step from 2024 to 2025 is the single largest change: two grades at once across most of the scale, because the CO₂ target value was re-anchored.
2022 was the best year to register a thirsty car: that year the F/G boundary sat at 10.14 litres, higher than in any other.
What this means, and what it does not
No car became worse. The category is not a property of the vehicle but its place in a ranking that is re-cut every year, and the new-car market keeps getting leaner. Anyone who bought efficiently in 2020 did the right thing; the label on the car remains valid, and it is the one cantonal eco discounts refer to. Every figure here is WLTP; older vehicles measured under NEDC are not comparable on this scale.
Computed across more than 36'000 M1 type approvals (petrol/diesel) from 2020–2024 · Basis: EnO Annex 4.1, VEE-PW · consumption data ASTRA / opendata.swiss
What category does your car carry?
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