The latest attempt by countries like Germany to save combustion engines beyond 2035 is considered a mistake by Luca de Meo, who warns that all investment is already focused on electrification.
As we told you yesterday, the European Commission is giving in to pressure from countries that want to continue to keep combustion engines on the market beyond 2035, with Germany in the lead.
Something that has generated the reaction of the CEO of the Renault Group and president of the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), Luca de Meo.
The Italian leader considers it a mistake to want to maintain the possibility of selling new cars with combustion engines beyond 2035. And not because he considers that this technology has nothing more to contribute, but because manufacturers have spent years investing billions in a transition that is already unstoppable.
“No one is developing a new combustion engine from scratch in Europe… All the money goes into electric or hydrogen technology”stated Luca de Meo in statements to Politico.eu.
Germany leads the ‘savior’ movement
It was taken for granted that the ban on selling new cars equipped with combustion engines in Europe from 2035 was a matter of mere paperwork, but at the last minute the plan has collapsed.
This has happened thanks to the opposition of Germany, which together with Italy, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic have succeeded in indefinitely suspending the final vote.
Negotiations between all parties are currently ongoing, but it is to be hoped that the European Commission will eventually relent on the synthetic fuels as a way to keep combustion engines current.
In fact, Politico reports that a document has come into its possession in which Italy expands Germany’s demandsrequesting to include all carbon-neutral fuels, including synthetics and certain types of biofuels.
Too late to turn back
Not a few car manufacturers have expressed concern in the past about the ban on thermal cars from 2035, including the Renault Group led by Luca de Meo.
However, at the time this concern was not addressed and currently all car manufacturers are in full process of transition to the electric car.
This implies not only adapting designs, technology, research and development, but also restructuring and training personnel, as well as updating and creating new manufacturing techniques and facilities.
Total, billions manufacturers have already invested and that, if the prohibition were reversed, they would be in question. Renault, in fact, has already announced that from 2030 it will only market electric vehicles. It is not the only one, Volvo, Ford, Audi and many more already have a date to make that leap.
Synthetic fuels, a patch
Luca de Meo admits that at the time he was in favor of the “technological neutrality”that is, an emissions legislation that did not dictate how to achieve zero emission targets by 2035.
However, he also acknowledges that the damage has already been done and that synthetic fuels would be nothing more than “sort of a niche solution”since production is still minimal and the industry needs to develop supply chains.
“All Tier 1 suppliers (those who provide equipment directly to car manufacturers) they are stopping investing in combustion engines altogether. You will see the wave coming”, concluded Luca de Meo.
