The European Union is backtracking on its plan to prohibit the sale of new combustion-engine passenger cars after 2035, as the de facto ban came under fire from major carmakers and strong auto industry lobbies in Germany and Italy.
The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, is expected on Tuesday to push back or ease indefinitely the 2023 decision to end sales of new carbon dioxide-emitting cars and vans in 2035.
The Commission will either postpone the ban by five years or soften the CO2-emitting targets indefinitely, sources from the industry and EU officials told Reuters on Monday.
At the end of last week, Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, the largest group in the European Parliament, said that “a real milestone achieved for millions of employees and the automotive industry: the end of the combustion-engine debate is behind us.”
“We are delivering on our campaign promise: technological neutrality – we are combining climate protection with economic success,” Weber posted on X.
“The European Commission will be putting forward a clear proposal to abolish the ban on combustion engines,” Weber also said, as carried by Reuters.
According to the official, the ban “was a serious industrial policy mistake.”
Two of the biggest EU economies, Germany and Italy, have recently pleaded with the EU to allow plug-in hybrids and highly efficient conventional cars to be sold in the bloc even after 2035, as governments look to prop up their massive but currently ailing auto manufacturing industry.
The EU auto industry has suffered in recent months from the U.S. tariffs, the Chinese curbs on rare earth exports, falling EU demand, and competition from the cheaper vehicles made in China.
As early as last year, Germany’s car manufacturing giant BMW warned that the EU ban on the sale of gasoline and diesel cars from 2035 is “no longer realistic”, and the European auto industry would see a “massive shrinking” with such a ban.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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