The world's largest automotive companies will buy the so-called environmental quotas for harmful emissions from the American electric car manufacturer Tesla. As reported by Agence France-Presse, citing a document from the European Commission (EC), this is necessary to avoid large fines in 2025 for insufficient sales of their own electric cars.
The Stellantis concern (which unites a number of brands, including the European Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat and Alfa Romeo), the Japanese companies Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, Subaru and the American Ford warned the EC of their intentions. They fear that the slowdown in electric vehicle sales, which began in 2024, will continue into 2025, when stricter environmental regulations come into force in the EU.
Under the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) rule, manufacturers must sell at least one electric vehicle for every four conventional combustion engine vehicles sold. From 2025, the average emissions level for the entire range of new cars from each brand must be 81 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometer (this figure has remained 95 g/km for the last 3 years).
Failure to comply with this condition is punishable by a fine for “extra“ combustion engine cars of €150 per 1 g of CO2 emissions per kilometer (according to their characteristics). According to car manufacturers, this approach could cost them up to EUR 15 billion over several years, but European rules allow for the purchase of eco-credits by prosperous companies. That is why the car manufacturers decided to enter into a joint agreement with Tesla.
“This will allow us to achieve our CO2 emissions targets in 2025. At the same time, we will continue to pay special attention to the development of innovative low-emission technologies“, the agency quoted a representative of Stellantis as saying.
The agency refers to the opinion of a Renault representative who opposed such deals. According to him, in this way the European Commission encourages car manufacturers to actually sponsor their own competitors. In December 2024, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) has already appealed to the EC with a request to ease emissions requirements. At the end of November of that year, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised to provide a “strategic dialogue” on the future of the European automotive industry.