The European Association of Automobile Manufacturers was founded in 1991 to enable European car manufacturers to bring a common voice to governments and regulators. Members include BMW, DAF, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Iveco, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, Renault Group, Stellantis, Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars and Volvo Group. Oliver Zipse, the CEO of BMW, is currently the head of the organization.
Actually, that list of members is no longer accurate. Stellaantis announced last month it was leaving the group and this week Volvo Cars also said it is leaving. But the reason for both announcements is where to find the real news. For those of you who complain about politics having a place in clean technology discussions, here’s proof that the two are inseparable.
EU countries approved a push last month to eliminate carbon emissions from new cars by 2035 after quite a bit of bickering about timing. According to Transport topics† ACEA took the position that any rules to come into effect after 2030 were “premature” due to the volatility and uncertainty in the sector.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was one of the most outspoken in his call for a more gradual transition to electric vehicles. †No surprise there.) He was critical of the speed of change imposed by lawmakers. He said that electric cars are not affordable for many consumers, that there are too few charging stations and that the sector is under enormous pressure to become more productive. “We must never forget that the choice of electrification is a political choice, not an industrial one,” Tavares said last week. “I respect their leadership. They decide, I follow.”
On July 8, Volvo Cars said it was leaving the organization because efforts to tackle an overheated planet were not aggressive enough. The company said it is “better for now to take a different path”. Volvo Cars has set itself the goal of producing only electric cars by the end of this decade.
“What we do as an industry will play an important role in deciding whether the world has a fighting chance to curb climate change,” the company said in a statement. “We have one of the most ambitious plans in the industry, but we cannot achieve zero-emission transport ourselves.”
And so the debate rages on between those who see the climate crisis as the number one priority for all business decisions and those who want to walk slowly into the future to preserve their market share or shareholder value or the integrity of their executive compensation package. That is what politics is all about and that is why we continue to report on developments in the world of politics.
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