The European automotive industry is “in danger of death”, warned Stéphane Séjénéné, the vice-president of the commission, before the presentation on Wednesday March 5 of his plan to help the sector to overcome the shock of the green transition.
Minimum electric vehicle quotas in business fleets, support for innovation, obligation of European components in cars sold in Europe … The French official has detailed in an AFP interview the tracks of the Brussels executive to relaunch a sector in crisis.
The battle of the electric vehicle “is not lost,” he said, before a visit to the Renault factory in Douai in the north of France. “The European Commission comes out of its naivety, protects and organizes the sector, gives it the possibility of gaining competitiveness,” said Stéphane Séjourné, while site closings are multiplying in a sector that employs 13 million people in Europe.
Weakened by a market at half mast, manufacturers like Volkswagen or Stellantis face the arrival of massively subsidized Chinese competitors, at the very moment when they consent enormous investments in the electrification of vehicles to respect the ban on petrol and diesel engines in the EU from 2035. And the threat of American surcharge brand by Donald Trump
Quotas for companies
Electric cars, still too expensive, saw their market share fall in the EU for the first time in 2024, at 13.6 % over the year. In order to “boost the request”, the Commission studies “obligations” imposed on companies to green their fleets, explains the European Commissioner. Electric vehicle quotas would be imposed on them in a text presented by the end of the year.
These purchases would also be facilitated by “tax incentives” harmonized at the EU scale which will be proposed to the member states. Business vehicles are a powerful lever because they represent almost 60 % of new registrations in Europe.
“I want European consumers to be able to buy European vehicles,” said Stéphane Séjourné. The plan, presented in Brussels at midday by the Transport Commissioner, Tzitzikostas Apostolos, plans “European content requirements for battery cells and certain components of electric vehicles sold in the EU”, in order to help the subcontractors.
“We are working on the list” of the components concerned, explains Stéphane Séjénéné who evokes “a shock of tenders” in addition to the efforts to relaunch the demand. “All countries do it today, be it the United States, China, India, there is only Europe that has not put in place these devices,” he said.
The Commission will also explore direct subsidies to the manufacture of batteries in the EU and want to soften the framework of state aid which today limits this type of support.
Softening
The objective of selling only new CO2 emission vehicles from 2035 “is maintained but with flexibilities” in order to avoid leading certain late manufacturers by inflicting the heavy fines provided by regulations, explains the vice-president of the European executive. “It’s common sense. We were not going to penalize the manufacturers we wanted to help.” The relaxation will consist in taking into account the emissions over three years, from 2025 to 2027, instead of a single year, which amounts to granting an additional time to increase sales of electric vehicles.
Electric vehicle recharge infrastructure remains insufficient in Europe and very unevenly distributed, a brake on the purchase long denounced by the automotive sector. The Commission wants to “accelerate the deployment of charging stations” and will mobilize 570 million euros for this purpose between 2025 and 2026.
The Commission will set up and support an alliance for connected and autonomous vehicles to fill the delay in key software and technologies today dominated by China and the United States. European industry will thus be able to pool resources in these areas where economies of scale are crucial, without being hampered by competition rules.
Stéphane Séjé also wants to “harmonize the rules of use and tests of the autonomous car in Europe” in order to facilitate their deployment on the roads.