Volkswagen estimates CO2 fines for this year to be in the billions.

The sluggish sales of electric cars may potentially result in a multi-billion penalty for the struggling Volkswagen Group this year.

The sluggish sales of electric cars may possibly result in a billion-euro fine for the struggling Volkswagen Group this year. (Symbol photo: Andrea de Santis/unsplash)
The sluggish sales of electric cars may possibly result in a billion-euro fine for the struggling Volkswagen Group this year. (Symbol photo: Andrea de Santis/unsplash)

The management estimated the potential costs for failing to meet the Brussels CO2 fleet limits for new cars at the current level at 1.5 billion euros. The statements were made in an exchange with analysts on the previous evening, as a company spokesman confirmed on Thursday. Occasionally, there had been significantly higher estimates over the past year. The VW share, listed on the DAX, recently gained around two percent. Analysts also pointed to a fundamentally optimistic tone from the management.

Possible Penalty Payment

According to the current situation, car manufacturers in the EU must comply with stricter emission limits for climate-damaging carbon dioxide this year - if the average CO2 emissions of newly sold vehicles are too high, penalty payments will be due. Given the current difficult situation of the German and European automotive industry with impacts on jobs and value creation, many politicians are already calling for this mechanism to be suspended and not to put further pressure on the manufacturers with penalty payments.

Limitations possible

Automakers have several options to limit the penalties. On one hand, they can try to significantly boost the sales of electric cars or hybrid drives. On the other hand, more efficient combustion engines can reduce fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions. Additionally, manufacturers can register so-called pools with other automakers to the EU and would then be considered as a single provider. This way, manufacturers heavily focused on combustion engines can lower their fleet emission levels by incorporating electric car specialists.

The conversation with analysts was a so-called "pre-close call," a common practice for publicly traded companies, in which the company informs research house experts one last time before the communicative quiet period leading up to the business figures.

Bu içerik Almancadan Türkçeye otomatik olarak çevrildi.
Logobanner Liste (Views)