Imagine the EU’s auto-making bigwigs gathered in a grand Brussels salon, whispering urgently: “This all-electric by 2035 crusade? It’s mirage territory.” That, in essence, is the message Mercedes-Benz chief Ola Källenius and Schaeffler’s Matthias Zink delivered in a blunt letter to Ursula von der Leyen, and boy, did they pull no punches. The 100% CO₂ cut for cars (and vans!) by 2035? They say it’s “simply no longer feasible.” According to a report I read on the Reuters news service.
Why the full-throated plea for a U-turn? For starters, Europe is practically begging Asia for battery imports, the charging network is spotty, production costs are marching north, and don’t get them started on U.S. tariffs. With EVs now barely 15% of new car sales (9% for vans) hardly the electric tidal wave Brussels imagined and tried to tell us was necessary to save the planet, it’s a recipe for regulatory indigestion.
Their solution? Not abandonment, but “tech neutrality.” Let hybrids, hydrogen, efficient internal-combustion models, and e-fuels also carry the torch toward decarbonisation. In other words: let the market decide, not Brussels’ firewall mandates. HAvent we been saying that for a while now?
This isn’t simply posturing. The Commission already blinked in March, granting carmakers extra time to meet the 2025 CO₂ interim target which is absolute proof the pressure isn’t just theoretical.
Come September 12, von der Leyen will sit down with the auto industry’s captains. Will she steer Europe toward a more flexible, multi-fuel path, or, will she keep repeating the loony environmental-alarmist mantra and keep flooring the pedal on electrification?
If you ask me, the real pivot has begun: not whether the EU wants zero-emission cars but how to get there without crashing the continent’s auto industry in the rearview mirror.
image credit : forbes.com
