The EU is now bringing European car brands into fashion and relaxing a number of requirements for petrol and diesel cars.
Gasoline and diesel cars are still to be banned in 2035. But now the EU is turning around a bit to make car brands fashionable.
– Instead of achieving the goals annually, companies should have three years. The goals remain. They must meet the requirements.
– But it gives more breathing space for the industry, says EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference in Brussels on Monday this week.
Several car brands have been critical of the fact that they now have to pay billions in fines for not building enough electric cars.
Volkswagen, for example, has already warned how many billions the EU penalty will cost the already financially strained brand. Read more about it here .
Electric cars are not doing very well in Europe
Conversely, BMW says that the automotive industry has shown for several years that the EU would tighten its grip. And that this should therefore come as no surprise to anyone.
Looking at the big picture, and not just here in the Nordics, car brands are having more than a hard time selling electric cars. A new study shows that just 1.8 percent of the total car fleet in Europe runs on electricity.
And even if you don't include the number of hybrid cars, the electrified vehicle fleet can boast more than 3.9 percent of the market.
So now it has become the case that all car brands can postpone the billion-dollar fines for the next three years. In any case, the fines will not have to be paid if the car brands do not meet the new emissions requirements this year.
Reuters writes.
European car brands and all other car brands present in the EU have had to reduce emissions from their model ranges to below 93.6 grams per kilometer on average from 1 January 2025. Until the turn of the year, the limit was 106 grams per kilometer.
However, some car brands are allowed to escape. Brands such as Ferrari and Aston Martin, which sell less than 10,000 new cars per year, do not have to meet the emissions requirements.
Ferrari, on the other hand, is determined to show off the brand's first electric car this year. Others, such as Aston Martin, reject the idea outright. The business case is not there, according to the new director.
– It is impossible that we can switch to electric cars now and then and still have any business, says director Adrian Hallmark, whom Aston Martin brought in from Bentley last year.
This month, Hallmark also had to admit that many of his customers are not ready for electric cars, and that they are actually turning away from them.
– Some say no and hate them (electric cars, ed.) with a deep-seated passion. Because customers believe that with electric cars they are being told that they can never buy a new V12 or V8-engined car again, says Hallmark.
