Ford To Join Tesla CO2 Pool To Avoid European Union Fines

Much ado has been made about the European Union and its goal of transitioning to a 100 percent zero-emissions vehicle sales mix by 2035, a mark that some see as unrealistic given soft EV sales at the moment. Regardless, the EU hasn’t wavered, which meant that many automakers were faced with the possibility of paying hefty fines very soon, given the fact that those companies weren’t on track to meet intermediate goals in the coming years. However, there is one way to avoid those financial penalties, and Ford just opted to take it.

According to Automotive News, Ford – along with Stellantis, Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda – will pool their emissions with Tesla in Europe to avoid paying billions in fines. The EU has set targets of achieving a 20 percent EV sales mix in 2025, and companies that don’t meet that mark will be fined €95 ($98.74 USD) per gram of CO2 over the limit per vehicle – estimated to result in a total of €15 billion ($15.6 billion USD) in fines. At the moment, EVs only account for 14 percent of the total European new vehicle market, meaning that these automakers are forced to figure out other ways to compensate.

The aforementioned automakers – including Ford – accounted for around 30 percent of the European new vehicle market in 2024, with Tesla holding a 2.2 percent market share. However, as Ford Authority recently reported, The Blue Oval plans to cut around 4,000 positions in Europe and the UK by 2027 amid weak demand for its passenger vehicles and all-electric models, instead focusing on its successful commercial-focused Ford Pro division.

In the meantime, Ford continues to call for robust EV incentives as a way to spur sales of those models in Europe and the UK. Those sentiments were echoed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who recently visited the Ford Cologne Electric Vehicle Center and addressed the need to subsidize energy costs for EV and battery manufacturers. Scholz also said that the European Union should avoid issuing punitive fines to automakers that don’t meet emissions standards.