CDA
April 25, 2023
Danger for Spanish car factories with the new Euro 7 anti-emission regulations that come into force in 2025.
The Euro 7 emission standard is generating a lot of controversy in the sector. This regulation, which will come into force on July 1, 2025 for cars and vans and two years later for trucks and buses, toughens the polluting emissions that combustion cars can emit.
This, which may be good news for the environment, may have catastrophic consequences for the Spanish automobile industry and European.
Let’s recap. The European Union has decided the end of combustion cars by 2035. By that year, neither gasoline nor diesel cars will be able to be sold in the European territory. Faced with this challenge, brands they are investing large amounts of money for electrification of their ranges.
Euro 7 may lead to production stoppages and layoffs
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So far, all clear. The problem comes from the fact that with the approval of the Euro 7 standard, an extra investment effort for manufacturers so that they reduce the emissions of the combustion cars that they are going to continue selling until that aforementioned 2035. Thus, the brands must dedicate part of their investment power to improving something (the combustion cars) that, in theory, will disappear 10 years after the entry into force of Euro 7, in 2025.
And we are not talking about little money: reducing a gram of CO2 costs millions of euros in research and development for manufacturers. In addition, according to the car companies themselves, this rule can lead to production stoppages and layoffs in the sector.
This has been stated by the general director of the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (Anfac), José López-Tafall, who has warned that the approval of the Euro 7 can have an impact on employmentsince a “discontinuity” is generated in the production chains that could lead to stopping the production of combustion vehicles to adapt it to a technology that is “still” unknown.
New cars emit on average almost half the CO2 of the park as a whole
López-Tafall has requested a “deep review” of the Euro 7 regulations and has called for “a more ambitious position” on the part of the Government of Spain, in line with the approaches of Germany and other European countries.
At the same time, employment in Spanish factories is in danger. One of the consequences of the implementation of the Euro 7 standard could be the increase in the cost of small and medium combustion cars, which are the ones that are mainly manufactured by Spanish plants.
