In case you haven't been keeping up on the news, Volkswagen is currently in deep diesel, accused as they are of putting software into their diesel vehicles that is designed to fake the results of emissions tests. This got us thinking: where does Volkswagen rank among other automakers in their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions? Not necessarily only wanting to focus on Volkswagen (if the accusations are true, they HAVE been fudging their emissions results, after all), this week's viz ranks major car manufacturers by the average amount of CO2 their vehicles emit per kilometre travelled, and how that's changed over the recent past.

In 2013, Renault vehicles had the lowest CO2 emissions per kilometre (in Europe, as the data are from the European Environment Agency) at 110 grams, followed by Peugeot at 115 g/km. Fiat, Toyota, and Cetroen followed closely behind each recording average CO2 emissions of 116 g/km. In emitting 182 grams of CO2/km, the Jaguar Land Rover had far and away the highest emissions level among the largest car manufacturers in Europe.

Between 2009 to 2013, Volvo and Renault led the pack in reducing their emissions by 24% and 20%, respectively. General Motors achieved the smallest reduction in relative terms, at 7%.