VW Polo Faces Uncertain Future Because Euro 7 Will Make Small ICE Cars Too Expensive
Automakers have warned us stricter emissions regulations could accelerate the demise of small cars equipped with combustion engines. The Euro 7 standard has a proposed start date of July 1, 2025. According to an estimation made by the European Commission, it will increase the asking price of a new car by €90 to €150. This revised proposal projects a significant reduction of costs as the initial proposal estimated a bump in the price of €304.
€150 or even €304 wouldn't be such a deal-breaker, but Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer cautions the reality is completely different. He believes something like a subcompact hatchback will be €3,000 to €5,000 more expensive, which would effectively kill the car by making it unaffordable to the people shopping in this segment.
Aside from adding a mild-hybrid system, the company's boss told Autocar at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show that automakers will also have to comply with stricter safety regulations that will require installing pricy tech. He went on to say the engineers need a couple of weeks to figure out whether it's worth investing in small ICE-powered cars:
"At the moment, we have engineers evaluating what that means. But if that is true [the expected impact of EU7 on the price of cars], we definitely won't invest anymore and we'll just keep the plan to electrify as quickly as possible." https://www.motor1.com/news/622442/vw-polo-uncertain-future-euro7/
Fiesta weg, Polo wellicht weg, denk ook geen nieuwe Mazda2 meer.. zowel EU7 als (dure) elektrificatie zal een hoop kleine auto's de das om doen. Autorijden wordt straks alleen nog maar voor de 'elite'.