Why have Euro 7 emissions regulations been delayed? Car News

European car industry bosses are believed to be locked in at least two months of intense negotiations with European Union officials over the final shape of the proposed Euro 7 pollution regulations.

According to an industry insider, automakers face the possibility of having to both dramatically increase the cost of future internal combustion engine cars and drastically cut production of cheaper, smaller models.

City cars and superminis could be forced out of the market by Euro 7 demands, which could lead to factory closures and major layoffs, insiders say.

Indeed, some automakers have already publicly stated this issue, with Nissan stating that it will not be producing new engines to meet the new regulations. This matches the company’s plans for electrification, but is still quite the statement. Euro 7 was due to come into force by 2025. Delays in approving the proposals have also left the auto industry deeply concerned that it will not have time to complete re-engineering and testing necessary to make the Euro 7 standard compliant. models.

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As Autocar revealed last year, the Euro 7 Consortium for Ultra-Low Vehicle Emissions (Clove) task force had suggested that future ICE cars would have to meet extremely strict pollution targets in all driving circumstances – including including when accelerating and when towing, for example.

Critics said the proposals were so demanding that they would be difficult to monitor with current mobile test equipment.

The Euro 7 regulations, which focus on tailpipe pollution rather than CO2 emissions, should have been announced at the end of 2021 but have been delayed twice. The last deadline was this month, but our sources say proposals are now due in July.

An insider told Autocar that the EU gave Clove such an open mandate that the outcome could easily hasten the end of most ICE vehicles, well ahead of the EU’s 2035 deadline.

They explained: “Clove was not asked to consider customer affordability for Euro 7 regulations. This allowed engineers to explore the most demanding parameters possible. Inevitably, this has encouraged some to see an opportunity to boost the switch to electric vehicles by European industry.

The source added that the lack of leaks on Euro 7 delays suggests negotiations are now taking place at the highest political level, possibly indicating a stalemate between the auto industry and the EU.

“I guess the industry is telling the EU that the Euro 7 proposals are so strict that smaller, cheaper cars will start being phased out from 2025,” our source said. “It will mean layoffs and closures.

“The industry is also likely to suggest that if a purist form of Euro 7 goes ahead, it will have to pivot to majority EV production much faster than expected, and will require significant production subsidies. and EV sales and huge state investment in EV charging networks as a result.

Without moderate Euro 7 legislation, the EU found itself faced with either serious cuts in European production of ICE cars or the need for even greater subsidies for electric vehicles.

“I’m sure the EU will not be happy to have strengthened the hand of industry, albeit inadvertently, via Euro 7,” our source said. “Ultimately it comes down to money. Can the EU afford a shift to electric vehicle production in 2025?”

Even before the recent spike in commodity prices, European auto industry bosses expressed concerns that many new car prices were being priced out of the market.

Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said earlier this year that electric vehicles cost 40-50% more to build than ICE cars and warned: “There is no way to transfer 50% of the additional costs to the end consumer, as most segments of the middle class have won. I can not pay.

However, the influential Transport and Environment lobby group strongly opposes the watering down of Euro 7. It said if the industry has its way, the EU risks putting nearly 100 million cars additional “very polluting” on its roads from 2025 to 2035.

“We have one last chance to introduce tougher emissions standards to reduce toxic emissions from ICEs, make the air safer to breathe across Europe and make cities and towns healthier and cleaner” , did he declare.

The problem, which the industry and the EU are currently facing in their negotiations, is that achieving the lowest “technically possible” pollution levels will not only dramatically increase the price of ICE cars, it could also translate by smaller and more affordable cars. withdrawn from the market, causing many job losses.

While the logic of this approach could advance the mass manufacture of electric vehicles in the EU, serious affordability issues remain. Indeed, last week, a research firm said…