Automotive News Europe — 2025-07-01
Automotive Industry
Stellantis may have to close factories due to the risk of hefty European Union fines for not complying with CO2 emission targets, the automaker’s Europe boss, Jean-Philippe Imparato, said.
European car manufacturers have to sell more electric vehicles to cut CO2 emissions or risk penalties as part of the bloc’s efforts to limit the effects of climate change.
The auto industry has successfully lobbied for more time to comply, as fines will be based on 2025-27 emissions rather than just in 2025.
Imparato said the targets were still unreachable for automakers, and exposed his company to fines of up to €2.5 billion ($2.95 billion) within “two-three years.”
Speaking at a conference on July 1 in the lower house of parliament in Rome, he said that without significant changes in the regulatory situation by the end of this year, “we will have to make tough decisions.”
This is because Stellantis would either have to double its electric vehicle sales, which is impossible, or cut the production of gasoline and diesel vehicles, Imparato said, so as to improve the powertrain mix of its fleet in favor of electric.
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“I have two solutions: either I push like hell (on electric) ... or I close down ICE (internal combustion engine vehicles). And therefore I close down factories,” he said, at one point mentioning Stellantis’s Sevel plant in Atessa, Italy, Europe’s largest light commercial vehicle plant.