One of the big car manufacturers warns that they could close their factories in Europe due to EU regulations
Headquarters of Italy of Stelantis Auto, Photo: Antonello Marangi / Dreamstime.com
The Franco-Italian-Itician car manufacturer Stelantis could close factories due to the risk of harsh fines for failure to meet CO2 emissions, the director of the European subsidiary, Jean-Philippe Emrato said on Tuesday, reports Reuters, quoted by Agerpres.
European car manufacturers must sell more electric vehicles (EV) to reduce CO2 emissions or risk fines, in the context of community block efforts to limit the catastrophic effects of climate change.
The auto industry has obtained longer to comply with the rules and the fines will take into account the emissions from 2025-2027, compared to the level of 2025 originally provided.
But Jean-Philippe Empero warned in the comments made before the Italian Parliament that the objectives still cannot be met by car producers and CP Stelantis could face fines of up to 2.5 billion euros “in the next two or three years.”
He stressed that, without the significant change of regulations by the end of the year, “we will have to make harsh decisions.”
Stelantis holds famous car brands such as Peugeot and Citroen
Emperato, the director of the European Division of the car manufacturer, also said that Stelantis either will have to double the sales of electric cars, a target that he described as impossible, or reduce the production of petrol and diesel cars, so as to improve the “energy mix” of his fleet in favor of electric models.
He added: “I have two solutions: either I force the EV segment, or give up vehicles powered by internal combustion engines (ICE). And therefore I close factories,” possibly the Atessa plant in Italy.
Founded at the beginning of 2021 by the merger between Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot-Citroen, Stelantis is the fifth car manufacturer depending on the market value and the owner of famous brands such as Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat, Citroen and Peugeot.
The company has almost 250,000 employees around the world and a presence in dozens of countries. According to the latest data in February 2025, Stelantis was the fifth largest car manufacturer in relation to the number of cars sold, behind Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group and Renault Nissan.
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