6 Nations Challenge EU’s Combustion Car Deadline
Call for Hybrids and Fuel Cells Aims to Protect Auto Investment
Key Takeaways:
- Six EU leaders asked the European Commission to revise upcoming car emission rules to allow some combustion-engine technologies beyond 2035.
- The appeal cites a slower shift to electric vehicles, rising industrial pressures and billions of euros in planned investments at risk.
- The commission is expected to unveil the accelerated review this month as manufacturers seek clarity on the future of the ban.
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Six European Union leaders, including Italy's Giorgia Meloni, asked the European Commission to propose softening the bloc's vehicle emission rules to halt a de facto ban on combustion engines planned by the middle of the next decade.
Prime ministers including Meloni and Poland’s Donald Tusk demanded that an upcoming revision of EU rules for new cars allow plug-in hybrids, range extenders and fuel-cell technology even after 2035, according to a letter to commission President Ursula von der Leyen seen by Bloomberg News on Dec. 5.
“We are at a turning point both for the EU automotive and car components industry and for the European climate action,” the leaders said. “We can and we must pursue our climatic goal in an effective way, while not killing our competitiveness in the meanwhile since there is nothing green in an industrial desert.”
The letter, also signed by Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, seeks to influence the commission’s effort to offer more flexibility to Europe’s car industry. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov also joined the appeal.
The review of existing rules, moved up from 2026 because of a slower-than-expected shift to electric vehicles, is expected to be unveiled this month.
Italy and Germany have been fighting to soften the bloc's looming ban on sales of new combustion-engine vehicles, seeking to shield their automotive industries from Chinese competition, weaker-than-expected electric vehicle demand and U.S. trade tariffs.
Meanwhile, Europe's high energy and labor costs are forcing automakers to cut jobs and shift investments elsewhere. The French government has instead prioritized a "European preference" for electric vehicles in a bid to avoid job losses.
Manufacturers such as Stellantis NV, Volkswagen AG and Renault SA are seeking clarity on the fate of the ban as they plan future investments, with billions of euros at stake.
"Fully applying the principle of technological neutrality is key: it is evident that there is no silver bullet on the path to decarbonization, and imposing a single technological solution curbs research, innovation and virtuous competition," the leaders said in the letter dated Dec. 4.
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