Europe’s biggest carmakers are scheduled to hold talks with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, September 12th as the industry pressures the bloc to revise plans to end combustion-engine vehicle sales by 2035.
Suffering from fierce Chinese competition and a stuttering transition towards electric vehicles (EVs), embattled European automakers are pushing for Brussels to reconsider its ambitious climate goals. According to Sigrid de Vries, director of the European auto lobby ACEA
The regulation that is applicable to us is too rigid to produce success, and really we believe must be adapted to reality … We need to be more pragmatic.
Friday’s Brussels meeting is the third under a European Union initiative launched in January to help 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 automakers, with the Commission allowing them more time to meet the first carbon emissions target under plans to phase out sales of new combustion-engine vehicles by 2035.
But companies are now pushing for more systemic change.
In an August letter to von der Leyen, carmakers and their suppliers lamented a series of challenges including dependency on Asia for batteries, high manufacturing costs, and U.S. tariffs, which have been upped to 15% under a deal struck with Brussels.
Paired with an uneven distribution of charging infrastructure, they said those obstacles are holding back sales of EVs, which account for about 15% of new cars sold across Europe.
Describing the 2035 target 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.”
