Ford has revealed it will need to purchase emissions credits from rival automakers this year in order to comply with European mandates.
In a recent statement, Ford of Europe said it will join an open emissions pool to bring down its CO2 levels and avoid fines. The company didn’t say which manufacturer it will join, but both Renault and Volvo have confirmed they are accepting partners for an open emissions pool as both will be well under their emissions targets for 2020.
The Blue Oval claims it would have hit the required CO2 target of 98 grams per km for the year had it not run into problems with the Kuga PHEV that forced it to issue a stop-sale and a recall of 20,808 examples after a number of fires.
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“Ford always has, and will continue to meet the EU’s emissions targets,” Ford of Europe said in a statement. “Based on our product roadmap and production schedule for this year, we expected to comply with the new regulations even factoring in COVID-related disruption to our manufacturing. However, the current issues with the Kuga PHEV resulting in a stop-ship and stop-sale have affected our plan to meet the EU’s 2020 emissions regulations for passenger vehicles on our own.”
Auto News reports that Ford was within 1.4 g/km of meeting its target by the end of the first half of the year.
Interestingly, Ford intends on establishing an open pool of its own for light commercial vehicles as it is on track to be well below its CO2 target for vans in 2020. The Volkswagen Group will participate in this pool.
