EU extends deadline for fleet limits

Car manufacturers with a product range in the European Union will be given more time to meet the EU's climate targets. This proposal by the European Parliament and the European Commission was endorsed by the EU countries in Brussels today. This will amend the regulations on climate targets so that manufacturers will not have to comply with the fleet limits on an annual basis. The car industry will be given a one-off period of three years to comply.

Postponement of possible penalties

The possible penalties are also temporarily postponed. This means that a manufacturer can exceed the target for 2025 if it falls below the value accordingly in the following two years. The average value over this period will be used. The car industry faces penalties for exceeding the fleet limit, which applies on average to all cars sold by a manufacturer in the EU in the reference year. For every gram of CO₂ more, a fine is due for each car sold in the EU – regardless of whether the individual car has complied with the limit value or not. The value for this year is 93.6 and is set to fall to 49.5  grams of CO₂ per km in 2030.

Relief with a shrinking plus

The postponement is intended to help manufacturers in the EU in their current difficult situation. They feel under pressure from state-supported Chinese car production with its globally competitive electric cars. In addition, US tariffs of 25 percent have been in force on imports of cars and car parts since the beginning of April. North America, meanwhile, is one of the largest sales markets for German car manufacturers, importing more cars than any other country at 13.1 percent. Almost one in three Porsches and one in six BMWs were sold there in 2024, while the shares of VW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz were 12 to 15 percent. Meanwhile, the German market continues to shrink, by around one percent compared to the previous year and around a quarter compared to 2019.

However, the German manufacturers' business figures still show a solid increase, following well above-average profits over the past few years. BMW and Mercedes-Benz are still clearly in positive territory according to their figures. Mercedes, for example, made 28 percent less profit, but is still up 10.4 billion euros, while BMW announced a drop of 37 percent, but is still 7.7 billion above zero. With a self-reported 33 percent, Audi sits between its competitors, but is below BMW with a plus of 4.2 billion.

(fpi)