Automakers have signaled a desire to relitigate the 2035 measure, particularly a 2025 emissions milestone included in the legislation to ensure car brands keep up in the transition. By next year, carmakers must have cut fleet emissions by 15 percent compared to 2021 levels, or else face large fines.
Several car manufacturers have said they will struggle to meet the emissions targets. Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault and head of the ACEA carmaker lobby, has warned next year’s fines could come to €15 billion.
“It will cost resources, we’ll have to lower the price of electric cars and make discounts, destroying the [car’s] residual value,” he said at POLITICO’s Competitive Europe Week.
Critics maintain the brands are fully capable of hitting the targets and accuse carmakers of taking advantage of this year’s slowdown in EV sales to continue to push highly profitable fossil-fuel SUVs.
But even if Italy succeeds in cobbling together a coalition to shift the review from 2026 to 2025, it’s unclear if lawmakers could complete it in the proposed timeline.
“Bringing the review to 2025 is next to impossible. The next Commission will not even be in place until the end of the year,” said Julia Poliscanova, vehicle director at green NGO Transport & Environment.
Giorgio Leali, Jürgen Klöckner and Laura Hülsemann contributed reporting.