From NoTricksZone

By P Gosselin on 12. February 2023

“Mobility on the road to become elitist, luxury good!”

In November, 2022, the EU Commission presented its Euro 7 vehicle emissions standard proposal. The new directive would mandate new vehicles to become cleaner and apply to all newly registered vehicles as of July 2025.

“We cannot accept a society where exposure to air pollution is responsible for more than 300,000 premature deaths a year in the EU-27 alone,” said Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, responsible for competition policy, at the launch of the proposal. The new rules will help us breathe cleaner air and make the sector greener and more resilient. We must stick to the goal of the European Green Deal and set global standards.”

But critics warn Euro 7 will make cars far more expensive, turning them into a luxury good affordable only to the rich. The EU Commission is in fact striving to restrict general individual mass mobility under the guise of clean air and climate protection.

“In short, driving a car must become so expensive that some of the customers with smaller wallets will forego buying their own car. And they do so voluntarily,” explains Tichys Einblick.

Why will Euro 7 make cars more expensive?

Tichys Einblick reports that the Euro 7 standard “contains new exhaust gas requirements for future internal combustion engines that cannot be met using the current state of the art – or only with such high technical effort and costs that it only pays off for large high-priced vehicles, not for smaller cars for average earners.”

In other words, the EU Commission will make the standard so tough that it will price vehicles out of the market for many citizens.

According to engine expert Professor Thomas Koch of KIT Karlsruhe, “additional production costs of at least €500 and probably as much as €1000 can be expected, depending on the initial vehicle.”

“This means in the last consequence: Mobility on the road becomes elitist! Becomes a luxury good!” warns Tichys Einblick. Electric cars are not an alternative because they are even more expensive.

Previously, European car manufacturers went along with the EU’s demands for cleaner cars, but that cozy cooperation is now running thin as manufacturers no longer see benefits.

“For the first time, fierce opposition has been stirring in the European auto industry against the ideologically trimmed emissions plans of EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans,” writes Ticky Einblick. “The trade journal Automobilwoche speaks of an ‘uprising against the Euro 7 emissions standard’.”

The Euro 7 directive is still a draft, and opposition to it remains fierce, not only from the industry but from a number of parties and ministries as well. Whether or not it goes into affect in its current version remains questionable.