Before the pressure from governments and European institutions, the big manufacturers already have long-term plans to electrify their entire range of products and, finally, banish vehicles powered by a combustion engine. Among them, Kia and Ford have already marked a date in red on their calendars.
As we have told you in recent months, Spain you already have a date to stop selling any vehicle that emits CO2 into the atmosphere. That is to say, from 2040 no new car sold will be able to be diesel, gasoline, hybrid (of any type) or gas. This prohibition will arrive earlier in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, if the last known agreement goes ahead and in which Spain, the United States, China, France or Germany are not present.
But the date set by the government may have to be brought forward. A European Commission draft targets 2035 such as the year in which non-electric vehicles stop being sold. If it goes ahead, the temporary Spanish border will also have to move, since it would be violating a European regulation in that period of five years.
So that you don’t get your fingers caught, Kia and Ford also have their own plans for Europe, taking into account these limitations and the possible prohibitions that are yet to come. It is logical, therefore, that both manufacturers are choosing to electrify their fleet and that, within a few years, their only options on the market will be electric.
Just like has confirmed Jesús Alonso on LinkedIn, president of Ford Iberia, the firm joins the plans set by RouteZero: end to vehicles with combustion engines in 2035 and neutral emissions in transport in 2040. But, as read in its publication, in Europe the brand has more ambitious plans. Thus, all private vehicles sold from 2030 under the Ford signature will be fully electric. And two-thirds of the commercials will be electric or plug-in hybrids.
Plans Kia they are very similar, although they focus on 2035 as the year they will only sell electric cars in Europe, leaving for the year 2040 its commitment in the rest of the markets. Of course, the Asian firm has also confirmed that by 2045 they hope to be a carbon neutral manufacturer. For this, measures will be taken such as an exhaustive control of the emissions produced by collaborating companies from 2022 and factories abroad will use only electricity obtained from renewable energies from 2030.
As for releases, Kia’s offensive in the electric car market will take a big boost in the coming years. The brand has already committed to launching one fully electric car a year between 2022 and 2024 and between 2025 and 2026 three more new models will make their appearance. Among them, of course, are the well-known Kia EV6, the EV7 and EV8 and a small SUV that could be called EV4. And those born as a result of your commitment to power the hydrogen car.
