It was a mere few years ago when Ford announced that it planned to transition its entire European passenger vehicle lineup to all-electric vehicles by 2030 or sooner, but a major shift in consumer demand ultimately prompted the automaker to scrap that ambitious idea altogether. Trouble is, the European Union is aiming to transition to 100 percent zero-emissions in its automotive market by 2035, though that mandate has been under fire for some time now. Regardless, Ford and Volkswagen may face some hefty fines if the two companies miss their targets in the coming months.
According to Automotive News, an analyst outfit called Dataforce projects that automakers in the EU will have to dramatically increase sales of both all-electric vehicles and hybrids by 2025 to meet CO2 emissions targets, which are currently set at a fleet average of 93.6 grams of CO2 per km – a sharp drop from the current target of 116 g/km set back in 2021. These targets vary by automaker based on the average of each individual fleet, and in that regard, Ford and VW face the biggest uphill battle – Ford’s current fleet average stands at 125 g/km, followed by VW at 123 g/km.
Automakers that fail to meet this new goal risk being fined a total of €95 ($105.80 USD) per vehicle, per gram over the target, and have collectively already paid €550 million ($613 million) for missing the previously-set 2021 targets. The quickest way to reduce fleet wide CO2 emissions is to make and sell more all-electric vehicles, but the problem is, EV market share in Europe actually declined in H1 2024 versus the first half of 2023 – from 13.8 percent to 13.3.
However, hybrids accounted for half of the 4.3 percent increase in new vehicle sales over the same time period, which bodes well for Ford’s plan to ramp up its partially-electrified offerings across the globe. As for The Blue Oval’s future EVs in Europe, that prospective lineup is unclear at the moment following the launch of the Ford Explorer EV and Capri EV – though it remains possible that the EU ultimately decides to allow for some concessions in its 2035 ZEV mandate, such as the use of clean e-fuels in ICE models.
We’ll have more on the European Union’s 2035 ZEV mandate soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
The work that actually needs to be done is by these governments that make unreasonable demands. Their goals are neither achievable nor desirable.
Automakers should stop doing business in the EU if the eco-commies in the EU bureaucracy are not purged from power. You will never satisfy them, and the costs of doing business in that region will make it nearly impossible to be profitable.
When people say “why did they go EV when nobody wants it, I have the title of this article screen shot to reply with.
Your, mine, Ford’s, everyone’s beef is with the government. The companies are not going EV because of consumer demand, but because they’ll be fined out of existence if they don’t.
Is it the WEF taking affordable automobiles off the market and limiting cars to the elites? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s certainly shaping up that way.
Farley was quick to warm up to these draconian mandates in a sign of virtue signalling so he has nobody to blame but himself.
The government are dillusinal about what people want to buy and afford , the British government will destroy our motor industry they haven’t got a clue nor has the eu if I was ford motor company I would refuse to pay the fines and sue the British and eu government,every law that comes out of Europe is shite , and I think a lot of this global warming is crap anyway