A few weeks ago, Renault boss Luca de Meo was already critical of electromobility. Now he is raging against the introduction of the Euro 7 emission standard. In his opinion, the new emission standard would only increase the prices for vehicles with combustion engines without actually reducing the emission of exhaust gases significantly.
Renault boss criticises EU politicians
At the “Change-Now” conference in Paris, the rather reserved Renault boss Luca de Meo gave free rein to his frustration with EU politicians. The reason was the new Euro 7 emissions standard, which is to apply to new vehicles with combustion engines by the middle of this decade. The additional after-treatment of exhaust gases is disproportionately expensive in relation to the benefits, he said. “We have calculated what Euro 7 would mean for our model portfolio according to the currently known plans. We now know that a car would cost on average 1000 euros more to produce and that we would have costs of about one billion euros in the Group. Ultimately, we would have to add these costs to the end customer prices,” the Renault boss tells Automobilwoche.
De Meo on Euro 7 – common sense is lacking
“I often see a lack of common sense, instead I often see dogmatism and extremism. But that does not bring us closer to sensible and realistic solutions,” de Meo continues. He considers the costs of implementing the new, even stricter emissions standard to be disproportionately high in relation to the manageable impact. For the entire Renault fleet, this would reduce emissions by just over 3 percent by 2030. In addition, the price of the vehicles will increase by more than 1000 euros. Particularly in the small and compact vehicle segment, this price increase would hit the group of buyers who could not afford an electric car.
Although Renault is a pioneer in electric cars, the group needs the revenue from the small and compact car segment with combustion engines. The prices for electric cars in this segment are far too high for many drivers. At Renault, this segment is the heart of the model range.