In order to clear their inventories of models that aren’t compliant with upcoming emissions regulations, carmakers are asking the European Union to delay new Euro 6 emissions standards by six months.
It was FCA boss Mike Manley himself who wrote to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, in his role as president of the industry group ACEA. Manley asked for the six month delay on behalf of his group’s members, reports Autonews Europe.
“While we accept that pollutant emissions are a sensitive political matter, we would like to emphasize that the proposed postponement will have no impact whatsoever on the emission level of the vehicles concerned or on air quality,” argued Manley in the letter.
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“In many cases, it will just mean vehicles will not be equipped with a fuel consumption meter.”
According to Manley, roughly 600,000 passenger vehicles already built would not meet the Euro 6d ISC-FCM norm going into effect on January 1st, 2021. He also estimated that 2,100 emissions system type approvals were still pending for models that already meet Euro 6d ISC-FCM.
His letter also touched on the fact that carmakers need to obtain legal certainty very quickly, and if the EU fails to grant this request, industry jobs could be affected.
“Without postponement of the application dates, manufacturers will face a choice between stockpiling newly produced vehicles until the type approval process is completed and not re‐starting (or, better, not re-starting) production of the vehicles concerned. It is clear the second option will have negative implications for workers, both at vehicle manufacturers and at suppliers.”
On a related note, the Chinese government has already postponed its new China 6 tailpipe emissions requirement by six months for this exact same reason.
