Stellantis warns it may be forced to shutter European vehicle plants to avoid punitive European Union fines over missing C02 emissions targets.
Addressing a conference at the Italian Parliament in Rome, the automaker’s European head, Jean-Philippe Imparato, says that despite the EU’s three-year delay to help automakers reach emissions targets, where fines will be based on 2025-2027 vehicle tailpipe emissions rather than just those for this year, they remain unreachable, Reuters reports.
He says even the delayed targets will force automakers to sell a higher percentage of battery-electric vehicles than those with internal-combustion engines, while threatening to impose EU fines of up to €2.5 billion ($2.95 billion) on the Stellantis Group within “two-three years,” adding, “We will have to make tough decisions.”
Recently, Europeans' appetite for BEVs has slowed, with consumers more focused on buying hybrid vehicles which do not meet the EU’s zero-tailpipe mandated targets.
Imparato points out that in the current economic climate, Stellantis cannot realistically double its BEV sales and would instead have to cut its production of non-BEVs to meet the 25% BEV sales of total vehicle sales that the EU had set for 2025.
First-quarter BEV sales’ market share in Europe was running at less than 15.2%, according to European Automobile Manufacturers Assn. (ACEA) data.
“I have two solutions: either I push like hell (on electric)... or I close down ICE and, therefore, I close down factories,” the executive says.
