Europe’s largest car brands have spent years making plans for the deployment of their models to glide safely under EU7 EU7 pollutant regulations by 2020, and then Covid-19 arrived.
And then, again, the week, Covid-19 came back.
And all the car brands that waited until the end of 2020 to increase their sales with plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and electric cars (BEVs) were surprised to find thee in serious trouble.
Ford, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and, at most, Volkswagen, now admit that meeting their emissions obligations by 2020 will be or, in the case of the Volkswagen Group, a “difficult race”.
The scale of the challenge is highlighted through sanctions imposed through the European Commission. The industry-wide target is 95 grams of CO2 emissions consistent with the kilometer, and any car manufacturer that does not meet its individual targets will be fined 95 euros per car sold, multiplied. through the gram through which the target is lost.
Even small ones can end up costing large corporations billions of euros, and JLR admitted last week that it had cut aside 90 million pounds (118 million euros) to get rid of the problems by the end of the year. World Car of the Year winner I-Pace and several plug-in hybrids on land rover and Range Rover teams.
As permitted by EU open group regulations (Article 6, paragraph 5, Regulation (EU) 2019/631 (private cars) allows it), Ford joined Volvo’s emissions credit group as a component of a movement revealed through Matthias Schmidt of the European Electric Car Report. . .
Preventing forced delivery of your Kuga compact PHEV, the style designed to keep the rest of Ford compliant, has pushed the entire company to the limit.
Seven Kugas hit the chimney in the hands of customers, resulting in a sales disruption and a recall of 20,500 cars, but Volvo’s early immersion in the world of plug-in hybrid vehicles, the consequences for Ford would have been significantly more expensive than typical. Remember.
Volvo expects to deliver 10,000 Polestar 2s this year, while its combination of PHEV models from the beginning of the year is 30% by the end of September.
JLR has already met its corporate objective due to an interruption in sales of PHEV Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport cars following a discrepancy with their reported emissions figures.
It already has PHEV versions of the Range Rover Velar, Land Rover Defender and Jaguar F-Pace, while a compact PHEV E-Pace SUV will be introduced next year.
The biggest challenge of all may simply be the Volkswagen Group, which admitted that it had gone from full confidence in meeting its emissions obligations to a “tough race” to get there.
It has revised its BEV 2020 models in Europe from more than six according to a hundred to between five and six according to percent.
It has taken steps to avoid non-compliance with its objectives by pooling its emissions with the European operation of its Chinese joint venture SAIC and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer MG, but its sales may not be sufficient.
Failing the target can push Volkswagen into the arms of its main European rival, Renault, to exploit its excess CO2 capacity.
Renault opened its pool the previous month.
Groupe PSA also had space at its issuance limits, most likely ending up helping its new FCA fusion spouse (Italian-Americans have already paid Tesla credits by 2020).
The key challenge for Volkswagen and Daimler, in particular, was that they had ended the year for the launch of PHEV and BEV, incentives and waves of marketing, but Germany, France and Italy followed elegant locks to combat Covid-19.
The resurgence of the virus has led to German theatres, cinemas, bars, restaurants, swimming pools and gymnasiums until the end of November.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown that schools, day care centers and department stores will remain open, there have been no words about car dealerships.
In Italy, all bars, restaurants and cafes will be forced to close after 6pm until at least November 13, and food shopping centers will be closed on weekends.
There is curfew since 11:00 p. m. to 5:00 a. m. , all sports competitions have been suspended, while the best schools have returned to school at home.
Car dealerships were not mentioned, although new car sales had been banned since the original shutdown, the only exceptions being government use, to upgrade broken cars, or for essential workers.
France imposed curfews from nine o’clock at night. until 6 a. m. — even in French Polynesia.
The closure of Europe by the time of the 2020 quarter has caused a fall in car sales of more than 30% and car brands fear that the next lock will do the same, and the EU does not yet have a force majeure or exit clause for those who fail the target.
I’ve been testing cars and writing about the automotive industry for over 25 years. My career began in the newspapers and became the editor of two
I’ve been testing cars and writing about the automotive industry for over 25 years. My career began in the newspapers and evolved in the writing of two automotive magazines. I have been a freelancer in Italy for over a decade, covering the European automotive sector, with a focus on product testing and product progression for readers around the world. I judge about the smart and the bad in cars, how they carry out their intended purposes at their costs to their target consumers compared to all their competitors. I do not occupy short or long positions in the automotive industry, basically because this can only compromise the integrity of my work, so my written positions are a condensation of knowledge that must be combined with approximately 4 complete cycles of delight products in value.