The EU is backing off its hardcore ban on gas and diesel cars after Germany and Italy basically said the 2035 cutoff was unrealistic. European People's Party president Manfred Weber confirmed the combustion engine prohibition is getting scrapped, and manufacturers will just need to slash average fleet emissions by 90 percent instead of hitting absolute zero. Germany's chancellor pointed out that millions of gas-powered vehicles will still be cruising around globally for decades, and Italy's prime minister wants hybrids to stay legal.
Environmental groups are losing their minds over the policy retreat, saying it locks European drivers into expensive fossil fuel cars for way longer than necessary. Some automakers, like Volvo, are actually mad about the change because flip-flopping on rules hands Chinese EV companies a competitive edge while everyone else scrambles to figure out what the regulations even are.
The European Commission is supposedly cooking up subsidies for cheap electric vehicles made domestically to counter Chinese imports, but the whole situation shows how split the bloc is between climate targets and keeping the car industry competitive.
Environmental groups are losing their minds over the policy retreat, saying it locks European drivers into expensive fossil fuel cars for way longer than necessary. Some automakers, like Volvo, are actually mad about the change because flip-flopping on rules hands Chinese EV companies a competitive edge while everyone else scrambles to figure out what the regulations even are.
The European Commission is supposedly cooking up subsidies for cheap electric vehicles made domestically to counter Chinese imports, but the whole situation shows how split the bloc is between climate targets and keeping the car industry competitive.
