From directives on environmental impact to regulations for new technologies and safety. The European Union imposes hundreds of rules, often contradictory, which affect vehicles producers in global competition and make models more and more expensive. Thus a “engine” of the Old Continent Industry risks turning off.
When the European Agency for chemicals declared war on the PFAS, a group of about 10 thousand very widespread compounds but that can contaminate water, land and food, perhaps it did not realize the impact that the proposed restrictions would have had on the automotive sector: a tsunami. Because the PFAS are used, thanks to their unique technical properties, in many parts of a car: in the coverings for the seats, in the seals, in the paints, in the batteries. Potentially millions of auto components would fall within the ban and currently, the producers support, there are no valid alternatives for many key applications.
Furthermore, this proposal, which must still be approved, clashes with the directives in favor of zero emissions: «In Brussels at least five general directions deal with cars, and sometimes they have contradictory strategies. When one asks for the elimination of the Pfas, the eternal pollutants, who is legitimate, the other asks us for battery -powered cars. However, there are no batteries without Pfas “said Luca De Meo, CEO of Renault, during a singular double interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro: next to him was John Elkann, president of Stellantis, the group formed by the merger between the ex -iat, the PSA (Peugeot) and the Chrysler.
Two fierce competitors in the united mass cars market, exceptionally, to accuse Europe of having destroyed the segment of the utilities with its regulatory bulimia: “European rules mean that our cars are increasingly complex, increasingly heavy, increasingly expensive and that people, mostly, can no longer afford them” support the two top managers. “Between 2015 and 2030” added De Meo, “the cost of a Clio will be increased by 40 percent. This increase is 92.5 percent attributable to the regulations ».
Flying over the fact that proposing to the market many SUVs and more expensive products has allowed their companies to accumulate useful for palates, De Meo and Elkann have launched the alarm on the gigantic volume of new regulations that will invest the European car by 2030: they would be more than 100. The European Association of the sector (ACEA) instead indicates in 150 EU regulations and in 30 directives concerning the European automotive industry, “one of the most heavily regulated sectors”. The wave of rules is led by the climatic ambitions of the European Union, encapsulated in the Green Deal and in the Fit for 55 package, but also by objectives for improving road safety, promotion of the circular economy and digital transition management.
We take the new Euro 7 standard which, despite having been softened following the builders’ requests, introduces some important innovations by expanding the focus beyond the CO2 emitted by the escapement tube to include wider environmental and health impacts, also for electric vehicles: in fact it imposes more stringent limits for solid particles (such as those produced by the wear and tear of brakes and tires) and more rigorous prescriptions on the duration of the duration of the battery for electric models and on the duration of emissions control systems.
Staying in the “Green” field, the regulation on out of use vehicles aims to improve the circularity of the automotive sector Updating the rules on the design of cars and trucks, and on the collection, treatment and recycling of scrapped vehicles. In practice, car manufacturers will have to progressively rise to 25 percent recycled plastic used in new vehicles and be subject to mandatory and larger dismantling. Then there are the battery regulations that focus on their sustainability, durability and recyclability. As for safety, the GSR2 legislation (General Safety Regulation 2), has introduced a series of new requirements for all new enrollment cars starting from July 2024: it makes advanced emergency braking systems, maintenance of the lane, detection of sleepiness and attention, intelligent assistance at speed, camera for reverse, emergency arrest signaling, event recorders (the event data recorders ( “Black box”) useful for reconstructing the dynamics of an accident. Obligations against which de Meo lashes: “Do you really need a car maintenance system in the car that spend 95 percent of the time in the city?”. In the crash-tests, «My R5 must behave like a luxury sedan with a hood three times longer. It’s physical! Should I use the tungsten? We ask for differentiated rules for small cars. It is unacceptable to treat a 3.80 meter vehicle like a 5.5 meter sedan ». Understandable position, because the security systems cost, but difficult to share: following this reasoning a small car that clashes with a great SUV would have no escape … but let’s go on.
In addition to dealing with pollution, safety, recycling, the European regulations for the car extend their action into many other fields. For example, digital. The growing connectivity of vehicles generates huge quantities of data. This led to the adoption of rules such as the EU Data Act to regulate access, use and sharing of data generated within vehicles, with the aim of promoting innovation by protecting users’ rights. Result: new regulatory paintings for homologation, safety and cybersicacy. For example, the obligation for those who retain the data (i.e. the car manufacturers) to make this information devices for users or for third parties designated by these, for equivalent, reasonable and non -discriminatory conditions. Or a prescription requires manufacturers to develop a cybersicity management system. And the approval of a car plans to demonstrate that measures of this kind are underway covering the vehicle’s life cycle. In short, many obligations, rules, regulations and bureaucratic updates that cost and that would suffocate the European car industry.
It is not that in the other advanced areas of the planet there are no gusts of vehicles on vehicles. Acea herself in a 2023 document had 195 regulations introduced by the USA since 1992 with a tip of about forty rules only in 2022. While China approved 337 always in the same period.
Comment on a manager who works at a large Chinese group: «In general, here they are slightly further back on the containment of CO2 and on some environmental standards. On homologations, security, cybersecurity I would say they are very similar ». Moreover, it is inevitable that such a complex product, that it has significant impacts on the environment and safety is in the viewfinder of legislators, especially in a phase of rapid development of technologies. But perhaps Europe, famous for its mania for the legal disciplines, is exaggerating. “A quarter of our engineering is dedicated exclusively to regulation,” Elkann complains.
Acea invoked a “simplified regulatory framework” and “more intelligent legislation instead of more numerous”. Among the advanced proposals are the grouping of regulatory requirements, attention to new homologations (adjust the future, not the past by imposing updates to cars already on the market) and the creation of a single desk or a task force for conducting specific impact assessments for the sector and proof test of the new laws. Roberto Vavassori, president of the ANFIA, the Italian Automotive Association: “At the EU level, the regulatory bulimia that invests our sector and, at the same time, reverse the course by eliminating the measures that are counterproductive, comments. Each new rule must demonstrate in advance to increase the competitiveness of companies ».
Lapidary conclusion: “Today, most of the rules do not favor greater agility on the market, but only involves costs and confusion”.
