The French automotive industry is in turn calling for adjustments to the disappearance of thermal engines in 2035

While Automotive Industry Day is being held on Tuesday in Paris, players in the sector are calling for a postponement of the ban on the sale of new cars with thermal engines, planned for 2035, or for adjustments. They fear tens of thousands of job losses.

Haro on 2035! Pressure surge from the French automotive industry, Tuesday November 4, as the major annual meeting of professionals in the sector takes place, the fourth edition of the Automotive Industry Day, at the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie de La Villette, in Paris. The participants seem unanimous in requesting the postponement of the ban planned for this date on the sale of new cars with combustion engines within the European Union.

This position is explained by a claimed pragmatism in the face of the supposed dogmatism of the European Commission. Sales of electric cars still represent only 16% market share in Europe. And even if they jumped in October to 24% in France thanks to the social leasing operation put in place by the government, the objective of selling only electric models in 2035 is not tenable, insists Luc Chatel, the president of the Automobile Platform, which brings together manufacturers and equipment manufacturers. “The truth is that, despite the gigantic investments, despite the battery ‘gigafactories’, despite this unprecedented innovation, despite all of this, 100% electric in 2035, we will not get there”he asserts.

A form of alignment, therefore, with the position of German manufacturers and their government, which intends to obtain a postponement of the timetable from the Commission. And it is not Antonio Filosa, the general director of Stellantis, resulting from the merger between PSA and Fiat-Chrysler, who will say the opposite. He also took the offensive against the 2035 rule.“We really believe that the rules, the way Brussels imposes them in Europe, are bad, he says. Not imperfect, but bad.” Words particularly applauded by the thousand participants present.

There is no clear request for a postponement to a date other than 2035, but rather relaxations of the rules set in order to allow certain hybrid models to continue to be sold after this deadline, in particular for larger models and for utility vehicles. Manufacturers, on the other hand, share the idea that small cars will soon all be 100% electric, even if this means taking strong inspiration from the Chinese, who are ahead today in terms of technology and speed of model design.

François Provost, the new general director of Renault, is preparing to unveil a new Twingo at the end of the week, partly designed in China. He especially insists on the weight of the regulations, too restrictive in his eyes, not only on decarbonization, which according to him resulted in increasing the cost of manufacturing a Clio by 40% between the first generation and the sixth, released recently. And this is reflected in the selling price.

François Provost therefore pleads for a regulatory break. “The European Union has spent recent years accumulating a tsunami of standards, he laments. In the end, we know the impact: people can no longer buy a car, and as a result, the gradual disappearance of a certain number of segments, notably compact cars, which are historically the lifeblood of our industry in Europe, and particularly in France.”

With the risk of eventually having to close production plants and reduce the workforce. The Automotive Platform therefore fears up to 75,000 job losses in France by 2035, partly linked to the ban on thermal engines.