EU emissions standard: Euro7 endangers vehicle production

In a few years, the new emissions standard - the benchmark for the production and registration of vehicles within the European Union - will come into force. From 2025, the so-called Euro7 will apply to passenger cars and vans, ensuring that cars can comply with applicable pollutant limits of any kind, even under extreme conditions such as high temperatures. This, however, will require extensive measurements to regulate and monitor various harmful emissions. Not only engine exhaust gases such as carbon dioxide, but also particulate matter and nitrogen oxides from tyre and brake abrasion, for example, are to meet the new Euro7 emission standards. 

However, the automotive industry warns that precisely these regulations could make production costs - and thus the sales price of new vehicles - considerably more expensive. Vehicle production, according to the German car lobby, would ultimately be put in jeopardy as a result. Should the standard come into force in its current version, "supply and production bottlenecks could be the result" - explains President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) Hildegard Müller. According to the car companies, it is simply "not feasible" to develop and approve enough car models in the prescribed time to meet the new requirements of the emissions standard. The staff for testing and approval procedures in the factories is by far insufficient, the costs too high. Which would make the car industry unprofitable, especially in the small car sector. 

To avoid such a scenario, VDA President Müller advocates a gradual introduction.  Müller continues that this is the only way to "ensure continuous production with corresponding guarantees for employment and availability of a broad range of vehicles". Which would ultimately keep the car industry afloat - as well as the economic efficiency of the factories. At the same time, the association demands that the EU will also consider a reduction of the new fixed nitrogen oxide limit value while maintaining the test boundary conditions. A compromise that will probably not come about. For even now, the new emission limits are considered by climate experts to be completely inadequate to bring about a real reduction in pollution. In the view of many, it is indeed doubtful that the measures proposed by the VDA would lead to a significant improvement in air quality on the roads - as promised by Müller.  

Certainly, a solution must be found, a "good cost-benefit ratio" that allows compliance with the emissions standard without leading to an industry-wide standstill. How Europe prepares for the new Euro7 standard - and for the future of transport - in the coming months and years will be crucial to this.