Europe’s hugegest carcreaters are to hold talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday as the indusattempt pressures the bloc to revise plans to finish combustion-engine vehicle sales by 2035.
Suffering from fierce Chinese competition and a stuttering transition towards electric vehicles (EVs), embattled European autocreaters are pushing for Brussels to reconsider its ambitious climate goals.
“The regulation that is applicable to us is too rigid to produce success, and really we believe must be adapted to reality,” stated Sigrid de Vries, director of the European auto lobby ACEA. “We required to be more pragmatic.”
Friday’s meeting in Brussels is the third under an EU initiative launched in January to support a sector that employs 13 million people and accounts for about seven percent of Europe’s GDP.
The first gathering resulted in a reprieve for autocreaters, with the European Commission allowing them more time to meet the first carbon emissions tarreceive under plans to phase out sales of new combustion-engine vehicles by 2035.
But companies are now pushing for more systemic alter.
– ‘Hands tied’ –
In an August letter to von der Leyen, carcreaters and their suppliers lamented a series of challenges including depfinishency on Asia for batteries, high manufacturing costs and US tariffs, which have been upped to 15 percent under a deal struck with Brussels.
Paired with an uneven distribution of charging infrastructure, they stated those obstacles are holding back sales of EVs, which account for about 15 percent of new cars sold across Europe.
“We are being questioned to transform with our hands tied behind our backs,” Mercedes-Benz chief Ola Kaellenius and Matthias Zink, of the automotive parts supplier Schaeffler, wrote on behalf of their industries.
Describing the 2035 tarreceive as “no longer feasible”, they called for incentives such as tax breaks to boost demand for EVs.
They also want more room for plug-in hybrids, highly efficient combustion-engine vehicles and other low- but not zero-emission vehicles.
That is opposed by green groups and EV sector businesses, more than 150 of which wrote a letter to von der Leyen this week urging her to “stand firm”.
Road transport accounts for about 20 percent of total planet-warming emissions in Europe, and 61 percent of those come from cars’ exhaust pipes, according to the EU.
Michael Lohscheller, chief executive of Swedish EV company Polestar, stated the 2035 tarreceive gave “clarity to indusattempt, direction to investors and certainty to consumers”.
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