- The target of converting all new cars to electric by 2035 was set as a key measure of the EU's environmental Green Deal in 2023 and a key step towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
() Europe's troubled auto industry and its supporters are stepping up pressure on the EU to ease a planned 2035 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars – with a decision expected by the end of the year.
The European Commission is due to review the target on December 10 as part of a broader rescue plan for the sector, but is being forced to move the date due to competing demands from member states and industry.
The target of converting all new cars to electric by 2035 was set as a key measure of the EU's environmental Green Deal in 2023 and a key step towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
But two years later, there is a growing demand to revise the target in the name of “practicality”.
“Our sector has received the strictest targets because it is considered one of the easiest to decarbonize,” the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said in a policy paper.
“But the reality has proven far more complex.”
Meanwhile, Chinese carmakers are flooding the European market with cheap electric models, sparking fears of an unprecedented crisis among the bloc's manufacturers, with mass layoffs and factory closures.
“The ground is slipping from under our feet,” Luc Chattel, head of France's Platform automotive industry group, warned last month. He said the region was a victim of “political and dogmatic choices, not technical ones”.
Also read: EV batteries can exceed the lifespan of an internal combustion engine-powered car: Study
Germany, Italy insisted on exemption
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has emerged as a leading voice in support of carmakers, urging Brussels to allow the sale of plug-in hybrids, range-extender vehicles and highly efficient combustion engines after 2035.
Italy wants new cars running on biofuels to remain legal after the deadline.
In the opposing camp, France wants to stay as close as possible to an all-electric trajectory to protect the large investments already made by its carmakers.
“If we miss the 2035 target, forget about European battery plants,” President Emmanuel Macron warned after an EU summit in October.
France is seeking EU support for battery production and proposing mandatory electrification of corporate fleets using European-made vehicles to avoid favoring Chinese brands. Germany opposes such fleet rules.
BMW chief Oliver Zipse argued in Brussels this week that making corporate fleets fully electric would be like bringing in the combustion-engine ban “by the back door.”
Lucien Mathieu of the transport and environmental advocacy group meanwhile warned that an exemption for biofuels “would be a terrible mistake”, citing a poor carbon record and unintended impacts such as deforestation.
First publication date: 07 Dec 2025, 14:36 PM IST