Automotive News Europe — 2026-10-20
Automotive Industry
Europe’s automakers are moving closer to winning respite from an effective ban on combustion engines from 2035 after key groups in the European Parliament struck a deal to ease emissions rules for the sector.
Lawmakers from the center-right European People’s Party, the center-left Socialists and the liberal Renew group reached an accord under which automakers including BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen Group would only have to cut emissions by 87.5 percent by 2035, with a further 7.5 percent offset through the use of green steel, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.
Sign up for the Automotive News Europe Daily to get the top news of the day in Europe every business weekday.
“The agreement in the European Parliament is a success for the European automotive industry,” said Manfred Weber, chairman of the EPP group. “The ban on the internal combustion engine is off the table. This is good news for hundreds of thousands of workers in the European automotive industry.”
Spokespeople for S&D and Renew groups didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal closely resembles a landmark agreement reached between France and Germany last week, which sought a 90 percent emissions reduction and no offsetting for the remaining 10 percent.
Parliament and member states must each agree their positions before negotiating the final shape of the deal. A final vote in the former is scheduled for the end of November.
The changes would end a requirement for new cars sold from 2035 to be climate neutral, allowing combustion-engine vehicles to remain on the market beyond the cutoff.
Automakers have argued that more flexibility is needed to safeguard the industry, while critics warn that weakening the climate target could leave Europe further behind China in the race to electrify its fleet.
The groups in parliament also agreed to more flexibility for so-called “supercredits” for battery electric vehicles and looser rules for vans.
A deal to run vehicles exclusively on renewable fuels after 2030 was deemed too restrictive by Laurent Donceel, secretary general at ePURE, who likened it to little more than “window dressing.”