Automotive News Europe — 2024-06-14
Automotive Industry
CEO says plug-in hybrids will be reconsidered as a means of reducing CO2 emissions.
Mahle CEO Arnd Franz has criticized Europe’s shift in focus away from the internal combustion engine as a “mistake,” while still calling for an acceleration in the reduction of CO2 emissions to avoid an impending climate “disaster.”
In Europe, the regulation discussion has “emptied the pipeline in development, it has emptied the pipeline in engineering education because people are refocusing on other technologies,” Franz said at the Automotive News Europe Congress here on 12 June 2024. “I believe this may be a mistake.”
Under proposed European regulation, there will be an effective ban on internal combustion engines by 2035 as the sale of new cars with ICE powertrains comes to an end.
Mahle, which builds pistons, cylinders, camshafts and other crucial engine components, plans to keep supporting any existing customer demand for the internal combustion engine.
“And we have a lot of customers who plan on having combustion-engine parts for a long time,” he said.
BEVs opportunity
At the same time, Franz recognizes that battery-electric vehicles are “a great opportunity.”
By the middle of next century, electrification will be the dominant technology in some regions, such as North America and Asia, despite hurdles such as green power and residual cost after a few years of use, he predicted.
That being said, BEVs also need alternatives as they “will not be the only answer to decarbonization.”
From a CO2-reduction perspective, the industry is moving too slowly, Franz said.
“Global CO2 emissions have to be reduced faster. We need sustainable fuels early on,” he said. “If we are not reducing the footprint from today’s CO2 emissions dramatically in the next years already, or the next decade, we may be closer to maybe 3 degrees Celsius of global warming, which would be a disaster.”
In the future, plug-in hybrids will be reconsidered as a means of reducing CO2 emissions, he said.
However, these will be different than past models.
Mahle has organized itself into three main units: electrification, thermal management and sustainable combustion engines as part of its 2030 strategic plan.
In 2023, more than 60% of Mahle’s sales were derived from products not directly associated with internal combustion engines.