Stellantis wants to withdraw from the European lobby association Acea. The Opel parent company announced this on Monday evening. Stellantis, the second largest automaker in Europe behind Volkswagen and which emerged from the merger of Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat-Chrysler in early 2021, announced its decision rather casually in a written corporate statement. The exit should therefore be completed by the end of this year.
Acea has spoken out clearly against the European Parliament’s vote last week to ban cars with internal combustion engines in the EU from 2035 onwards. However, the individual manufacturers had positioned themselves differently. “Given the volatility and uncertainty, any long-term regulation beyond this decade is premature,” said BMW boss Oliver Zipse, who currently chairs the Acea association. The European Parliament has set an “ambitious but achievable goal”, according to Volkswagen. Mercedes also welcomed the decision “in principle”.
Stellantis, on the other hand, had long ago declared that it did not want to sell only electric vehicles in markets like North America, but in Europe from 2030 onwards. For group brands such as Fiat and Opel, this should even apply by the end of the 2020s. The decision from Brussels affects the company less than other European competitors.
“Forum for Freedom of Movement”
Stellantis left it open whether Acea’s positioning in terms of the end of combustion engines was actually the (sole) reason for the declared withdrawal. Founded 30 years ago, the association unites the 16 largest European manufacturers of cars, trucks, vans and buses and in recent years has opened up to non-European manufacturers “with significant production and research facilities” in the EU. For example, Toyota from Japan is also a member.
As Stellantis further announced in the above-mentioned company announcement, the Acea exit should also be understood as a “transition from lobbying to a more direct interaction with citizens and stakeholders”. For this purpose, the group wants to set up a “Forum for Freedom of Mobility”. Held annually, the aim is to debate how “clean, safe and affordable mobility can be provided for society and how the challenges of global warming can be tackled”.
The “Forum for Freedom of Movement” is to be planned and coordinated by an “Expert Advisory Board” representing various interest groups from the car business, including mobility and technology providers, academics, politicians and scientists. “These initiatives demonstrate Stellantis’ intention to lead in a changing world,” the company boasts. A Stellantis spokeswoman told the FAZ that “in the further course of the year” further details about the forum will be announced
“Access to clean, safe and affordable mobility for citizens around the world is at stake,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was quoted as saying in Monday’s statement. The Portuguese had repeatedly publicly warned that the cost of electric vehicles had to fall so that middle-class people could continue to afford cars in the future. Tavares put the current additional costs of electric vehicles at 40 percent compared to cars with combustion engines.
