EU set to scrap 2035 combustion engine ban after industry pressure
By isabelle // 2025-12-15
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  • The EU is abandoning its 2035 ban on new gasoline and diesel cars.
  • It will instead propose a softened 90% emissions reduction target.
  • This follows intense pressure from a struggling European auto industry.
  • Consumer rejection of costly and impractical electric vehicles forced the reversal.
  • The move signals a major retreat from the bloc's aggressive climate agenda.
The European Union is preparing to abandon its core plan to outlaw the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2035. This dramatic reversal, expected to be formally announced next week, follows intense pressure from a struggling auto industry and confronts the reality that consumers have largely rejected the forced transition to electric vehicles. The move represents the bloc’s most significant retreat from its aggressive green agenda in half a decade, signaling a victory for economic pragmatism over climate alarmism. According to senior European Parliament member Manfred Weber, head of the center-right European People’s Party, the European Commission will propose scrapping the outright ban. Instead, automakers will face a 90% reduction in CO₂ emissions for their fleets by 2035, compared to 2021 levels, a softening of the original 100% cut mandate. Weber called the initial plan “a serious industrial policy mistake.” This policy surrender did not happen in a vacuum. For years, traditional automotive powerhouses like Germany have watched with growing alarm as their markets shrank under the weight of unworkable mandates, while competition from lower-cost Chinese rivals intensified. The economic pain became undeniable. Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz all reported weaker deliveries this year. As the provided materials state, “Large parts of the automotive industry in Europe, including in Germany… are in an extremely difficult economic situation.”

A rebellion against reality

The original 2023 regulation was a hallmark of EU climate activism, designed to forcibly accelerate an electric vehicle revolution. Yet it ignored fundamental market truths. Consumers, concerned with cost, reliability, and practicality, never embraced EVs with the fervor that bureaucrats predicted. Ford CEO Jim Farley highlighted this disconnect, stating, “It's not a sustainable reality today in Europe,” and that industry needs were “not well balanced” with EU CO₂ targets. The narrative pushed by climate activists—that the technology, infrastructure, and consumer demand were all aligned—has crumbled. Although European carmakers are making EVs, many report demand is not meeting expectations as consumers hesitate to purchase more expensive EVs and charging infrastructure remains insufficient.

The high cost of green dogma

The economic consequences of this top-down engineering extended beyond showrooms. The EU’s self-imposed energy crisis, following its decision to drastically cut imports of Russian oil and gas after the Ukraine conflict, sent power prices soaring, further crippling industrial competitiveness. Automakers were shackled with soaring production costs while being commanded to sell products their customers did not want. The proposed compromise opens the door for continued sales of combustion engine vehicles that use so-called “CO₂-neutral” fuels, such as biofuels and e-fuels. This “multi-technology approach,” as advocated by industry experts, acknowledges that the internal combustion engine, as one fuel systems executive noted, will “be around for the rest of the century.” It is a concession to technological openness that should have been the starting point, not a desperate correction. While EV-only companies like Polestar protest, asking, “So what are we waiting for?” the market has already answered: it is waiting for affordable, practical, and consumer-driven innovation, not diktats from Brussels. The EU’s retreat is a lesson in the limits of political power against economic and consumer reality. It reveals the folly of letting activist agendas override basic industrial strategy and consumer choice. This isn’t just a policy tweak; it’s a necessary correction from a bureaucratic machine that finally hit a wall built by the very people it sought to control. The question now is whether other sectors shackled by similar green dogma will see their own long-overdue liberation. Sources for this article include: RT.com Reuters.com RTE.ie Reuters.com
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