That too

VW pays billion-euro fine due to CO2 limits

(Bild: APA/AFP/Ronny Hartmann)

Sluggish e-car sales may cost the struggling Volkswagen Group billions this year in fines. The management put the potential costs of missing the EU CO2 fleet limits for new cars at 1.5 billion euros as things stand.

The statements were made in an exchange with analysts the previous evening, as confirmed by a Group spokesperson on Thursday. In some cases, significantly higher estimates had been made in the course of last year.

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, fines will be imposed. In view of the current difficult situation in the German and European automotive industry, which is having an impact on jobs and value creation, many politicians are currently calling for this mechanism to be suspended and for suppliers not to be put under even greater pressure with fines.

Options for limiting penalties
Car manufacturers have several options for limiting the penalties. On the one hand, they can try to significantly boost sales of electric cars or hybrid drives. On the other hand, more efficient combustion engines can also reduce fuel consumption and therefore CO2 emissions.

In addition, manufacturers can register so-called pools with other car manufacturers with the EU and would then be classified as a joint supplier. In this way, manufacturers with a strong focus on combustion engines can reduce their fleet emissions by bringing in electric car specialists.