Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares at Fiat in Turin: The second largest car manufacturer in Europe is leaving the manufacturer association Acea.
(Photo: Reuters)
Dusseldorf The European car manufacturer association Acea loses one of its most important members: At the end of the year, the Stellantis Group left the Brussels interest group. As the company also announced, there will be new formats for public relations and the representation of interests in the coming year.
Stellantis is the second largest car company in Europe after Volkswagen and number four in the world. A total of 14 vehicle brands are united under the Stellantis umbrella. These include Peugeot and Citroën from France, Fiat (Italy) and the US brands from the former Chrysler group such as Jeep and Dodge.
Stellantis’ Acea withdrawal comes a week after the European Parliament voted to ban the sale of ICE vehicles by 2035. If the EU member states also agree to this decision, only cars with electric drives will be sold in Europe by the middle of the next decade.
Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares belongs to the group of European car managers who have always spoken out against an exclusive commitment to the electric drive. Rather, the search for new, climate-friendly types of drive should be “technology-neutral”. Tavares had regularly warned that battery power was too expensive and that larger sections of the population would be excluded from buying a car.
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“The Stellantis withdrawal from the Acea must be seen against this background,” industry circles said on Tuesday. CEO Tavares is disappointed at how little influence a large industry association like Acea still has. The expense – several hundred thousand euros in membership fees per year – no longer justifies the income. Tavares has built a reputation within his own organization as a manager who takes a rigorous cost-benefit approach. According to an industry representative, he uses the same criteria for association work.
Less need for regulation
With the determination of the ban on combustion engines from 2035 onwards, there is no longer any greater need for regulation at European level, which will also devalue the future work of Acea. “The political substance of the association’s work is crumbling,” according to industry circles.
>> Read herewhy the European Parliament’s ban on e-fuels is causing additional irritation in the automotive industry
Companies in the automotive industry are also increasingly going their own way when it comes to climate protection. The announcement by Ford Europe and Volvo that they no longer wanted to sell combustion engines after 2035 caused irritation in Brussels – even before the decisive vote in the European Parliament. Stellantis draws its own conclusions from this and intends to hold its own “Forum on Sustainable Mobility” for the first time next year. The details of this are not yet known.
It is unclear at the moment whether other automakers will follow Stellantis’ example and exit Acea. At Volkswagen it was said that there were no corresponding considerations in Wolfsburg. CEO Herbert Diess is considered a critical observer of the association’s work. Almost two years ago he had demanded more efficiency from the VDA, the German interest group for the automotive industry.
More: No chance for e-fuels: EU Parliament to ban new combustion engines from 2035.