Stellantis CEO: ‘It would be surreal to change the rules now’

In response to the (unofficial) ACEA proposal to the European Commission to delay the 2025 emission targets for two years, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said, “It would be surreal to change the rules now.”

“Everyone has known about the rules for a long time and has had time to prepare, and so now it’s time to have a race,” Tavares argued last week in an interview. “Stellantis is ready to meet the EU emission targets.”

€15 billion fine

Last week, Luca di Meo, CEO of Renault and President of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) warned in an interview with France Inter radio that reaching the targets will be almost impossible if EV sales keep slowing down. This could cost the carmakers up to 15 billion euros in fines.

“We need to be given some flexibility,” he pleaded. “Simply setting deadlines and fines without having the possibility of making it more flexible is very dangerous,” di Meo added.

“We are preparing for 2025 now because we are taking orders for the cars we will deliver. And there, according to our calculations, if EV sales remain at today’s level, the European industry may have to pay 15 billion euros in fines or give up the production of more than 2.5 million cars with a combustion engine,” he explained. The consequence would be the closing of 8 factories in Europe and the loss of many jobs in the car industry.

Now, di Meo seems to have sent an unsigned document to the EU authorities asking them to apply Article 122.1 of the European Treaty, which permits the postponement of a regulation’s application without the consent of the EU Parliament.

Stellantis’ opposition

Carlos Tavares was also a long-time critic of the EU decisions, pointing out that electric cars wouldn’t sell if they were more expensive than their ICE counterparts. “We are living in a system where the regulator wants people to buy cars they don’t want because they are too expensive,” he said at the time.

In 2022, Tavares withdrew Stellantis from the European manufacturers association ACEA. His arguments have also completely changed. “Now that we have the cars and have organized ourselves, and we are even blowing in the neck of Tesla, they are warning for catastrophes. They should have thought about this earlier, don’t you think?”

From an ethical point of view, Stellantis has vowed not to buy credits from other less polluting companies (like Tesla) “because we think we have to really contribute to a solution and are ready to do so.”

“We are, for example, the leader in the French market regarding electrified vehicles, and on a European scale, we plan to offer 40 BEVs soon and add some 30 new electrified vehicles (hybrids and plug-in hybrids) too,” Tavares concluded.

Who is pulling, who is pushing?

Of course, not all manufacturers are threatened in the car business in the same way. Some carmakers, like Tesla and Volvo, are well under the 2025 requirements, and others, like the Stellantis Group and Kia, are close to or already meeting them with a 5% gap to close, according to a study by environmental lobbying group Transport & Environment (T&E) in a report published in April this year.

Most other big manufacturers still have work to do and will have to increase their efforts. We’re thinking about BMW, Hyundai, and the Renault-pool (with Nissan and Mitsubishi), which have a gap of less than 10 g CO2/km and will need to continue to sell more EVs if possible.

Others will have to work harder. For example, the Toyota pool (with Subaru and Suzuki) and Mercedes-Benz pay the price for not pushing BEVS enough. Usual suspects, like Volkswagen and Ford, are lagging behind, having the most significant gap to close at 22 g/km and 24 g/km, respectively.

It will be interesting to see how the EU authorities (and the member states) will react and how efficient the car manufacturer lobby will be, also regarding the threat of Chinese car import.

Tavares seems to have a point: now that the European car industry finally has the (electric) cars and will be able to sell them at interesting prices, some want to change the rules again. The Stellantis CEO, the great defender of free trade and competition, may have scored a point here.