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Volvo Still Insist Europe Should Ban Internal Combustion Vehicles By 2035
Despite revising its electrification plans, Volvo continues to lobby Europe to maintain the ban on sales of combustion vehicles by 2035. Manufacturers such as Stellantis and Volkswagen have not followed the initiative.
In terms of electrification strategy, Volvo is rather one of the good students. And yet, faced with the marked decline in enthusiasm for electric cars, the Swedish manufacturer has recently revised its plans. The objective of offering an all-electric range would no longer be planned for 2030 but in 2040. Despite this new decline, the brand from Gothenburg still maintains its position in favour of a ban on the sale of combustion cars by 2035. The pressure towards Europe is relayed by our colleagues at Bloomberg and is shared with 49 other companies, such as Rivian, Uber and even Ikea. ” Electrification is the most important action that our industry can take to reduce its carbon footprint. The 2035 objective is crucial to align all stakeholders on this path and ensure European competitiveness,” declared Volvo boss Jim Rowan.
Renault and Volkswagen do not follow
As expected, among those absent from this initiative in favour of the ban, we find BMW, Volkswagen and Stellantis. Not surprising when we know that Volkswagen is considering closing factories due to the slowdown in its sales of 100% electric cars, while Stellantis has significantly revised downwards its operating margin projections. Even if the boss Carlos Tavares has clearly stated his position in favour of maintaining the 2035 deadline, judging the possibility of changing the deadline to be “surreal”. And for Renault, at the head of the ACEA (Association of European Manufacturers), it is imperative to change the timetable, which is considered untenable.
More generally, Giorgia Meloni’s Italy castigates the European decision, calling it “self-destructive”. It remains to be seen whether biofuels and other zero-carbon synthetic fuels will allow us to slip through the net, even if, for the time being, the production of these fuels remains anecdotal and, above all, very energy-intensive.
The boss of the Renault group (Luca de Meo) is logically worried about the ban on thermal in 2035 since the majority of Renault and Dacia sales are in combustion or hybrid, a technology on which Renault has bet big. And which is currently profitable for the French giant. But Luca de Meo believes that it will be difficult to do better than 50% of sales in electricity by 2035.
