EU petrol car ban

Volvo Cars rages against EU: "Eroding trust"

Volvo Cars is sharply criticizing the EU after yesterday's lifted petrol car ban. The Commission's move risks "undermining Europe's competitiveness for many years," writes the car manufacturer's press officer Kristin Boldemann Wester to Affärsvärlden.

Volvo has abandoned its goal of producing only electric cars by 2030, but has nevertheless been a strong voice in favor of the ban. The EU's now backtracking on the issue could have serious consequences.

“It risks eroding trust in legislators and decision-makers,” writes Boldemann Wester.

On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it is backing down from its previous ban on the sale of new cars with combustion engines from 2035.

Analysis: Europe's naivety towards China is tragic

The EU is choosing to protect jobs before the climate, giving giants like Volkswagen an early Christmas present. This is what Bloomberg's Lionel Laurent writes after this week's news that the Union will lift its ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2035.

"The real tragedy is Europe's industrial and geopolitical naivety in the face of China's export machine and high-tech ambitions, rather than clumsy bureaucratic overreach."

Laurent believes that the EU must above all limit China's supply and stimulate domestic demand.

The criticism is also shared by the Financial Times' Alan Beattie, who sees the 2035 decision as a symptom of a larger strategic failure in the EU's China policy.

"The failure to innovate has left decision-makers fumbling for solutions in recent years."

The result is that European car manufacturers are now forced to act on their own. Beattie points out Volkswagen, which has started production in China and is now requesting tariff relief with the plan to export the vehicles back to the EU.

EU's new requirements 20235

EU to lift ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 and instead introduce requirements for 90 percent emission reduction and compensation with green steel or biofuels.