Tavares: ‘EU seems to want to push ordinary people out of the car’

Cars are getting more and more expensive and it doesn’t seem to get much better in the future. At least the latter is the conviction of Carlos Tavares (on the photo with microphone in hand). The Stellantis CEO is in talks with the AD his criticism of the EU cannot be hidden. According to him, the requirements set by the EU are causing an extremely undesirable development. According to him, the fact that new cars are allowed to emit less and less and must even be emission-free by 2035 drives up costs far too quickly: “This operation costs an extremely high amount of money and the customer will definitely feel that,” says Tavares. “It looks like the EU is out to get the common man or woman out of the car.”

Tavares itself obviously does not benefit if fewer and fewer people can buy a car. No wonder he is concerned about this. However, he says it is a bigger story than just that: “I think current policy has little to do with climate goals, but mainly with the desire of politicians to change our way of life.” Tavares is tempted to make quite politically charged statements and states: “As a voter I would be concerned and ask my representatives how important they think my personal freedom of movement is.” The Portuguese even says that ‘if he were a car buyer, he would revolt now’.

Pretty strong words from Tavares, who wants to see fewer rules and a more gradual transition to fully electric driving as a solution. “The average car buyer cannot switch to electric without a fight, because the cars are often still too expensive and the infrastructure is inadequate. We still have a lot of work to do to get the price of electric vehicles at the same level as that. of cars with an internal combustion engine, but in Brussels people seem deaf and blind to that reality.”

You can read the full interview of Carlos Tavares with the AD here.