The VW Group and Fiat Chrysler could face penalties of up to 1.83 billion euros ($2.08 billion) and 746 million euros ($848 million) respectively, if they’ll fail to meet 2021 EU emissions standards.
This warning comes courtesy of consulting firm AlixPartners, whose study shows just how hard it is for automakers to meet European targets as far as cutting average fleet emissions for passenger cars to just 95g/km within the next two years.
The study’s forecast as far as potential penalties are concerned is based on the vehicle emissions levels reported by VW and FCA at the end of 2017, reports Autonews Europe. Since then, most major carmakers have managed to reduce their CO2 emissions.
While the VW Group said that it will comply with the European rules, FCA prefers to pursue the cheapest option instead, which could mean actually paying the fines.
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“If you build heavier cars and have a large market share of diesels you have some homework to do if you want to mitigate possible penalties,” said AlixPartners exec, Elmar Kades. “Customers are switching to gasoline and this needs to be compensated with electrification and or hybridization.”
As of right now, the only major automaker groups that do not face penalties are Volvo and Toyota, according to the study. As for the VW Group, the reason why it faces the biggest fine is because it is Europe’s biggest carmaker as far as market share (24.3%). The German brand plans to mass produce electric vehicles starting next year in order to meet these strict EU emissions standards.
