Italy is in talks with the European Union on methods to protect supercar makers, together with Ferrari and Lamborghini, from the deliberate phase-out of combustion engine automobiles by 2035.

Whereas the Italian authorities totally backs Europe’s dedication to chop emissions by phasing out the most-polluting engines, “within the gigantic automobiles market there’s a area of interest, and there are ongoing discussions with the EU Fee” on how the brand new guidelines would apply to high-end carmakers that promote a a lot decrease variety of automobiles than mainstream producers, Roberto Cingolani, minister for ecological transition, stated in an interview with Bloomberg TV on the Ambrosetti Discussion board in Cernobbio, Italy.

“These automobiles want very particular expertise and so they want batteries for the transition,” he stated. “One necessary step is that Italy will get autonomous in producing excessive efficiency batteries and that’s the reason we at the moment are launching the giga-factory program to put in in Italy a really massive scale manufacturing facility for batteries.”

The European Fee in July introduced plans to section out gross sales of latest combustion-engine automobiles by 2035 as a part of the area’s effort to scale back emissions that contribute to world warming.

That timeline is especially difficult for luxury-car makers that produce automobiles with highly effective engines that emit above-average ranges of air pollution. These carmakers have considerably decrease gross sales that restrict the economies of scale that may be gained from changing manufacturing vegetation.

A spokesperson for the European Fee didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The variety of automobiles affected by an exemption would signify a fraction of a market that numbers within the thousands and thousands, stated Cingolani, a former non-executive director of Ferrari.

Ferrari offered round 9,100 automobiles in 2020, whereas Lamborghini gross sales numbered round 7,400.

“That is one thing we’re discussing with different companions in Europe and I’m satisfied there can be not be an issue,” Cingolani stated.

Electrical reluctance

Ferrari can be among the many most iconic of the supercar makers to profit from a doable exemption from the phase-out goal.

The corporate nonetheless doesn’t produce a totally electrical automobile and has been sluggish to embrace electrification. A spokesman for Ferrari declined to touch upon Cingolani’s feedback.

The Italian producer will unveil its first automobile that runs fully on batteries in 2025, Chairman John Elkann stated earlier this yr.

In distinction, Porsche’s totally electrical Taycan has been on the street since 2019. Ferrari will share extra particulars on its plans throughout a capital markets day subsequent yr. It should additionally start gross sales of its first-ever SUV, the Purosangue, in 2022 — years after Bentley’s Bentayga and Lamborghini’s Urus got here to market.

Charting a course for Ferrari within the waning days of the inner combustion engine can be among the many greatest priorities for Benedetto Vigna, who began as CEO on Sept. 1.

The previous STMicroelectronics government led the chipmaker’s division that provides key sensors utilized in Apple’s iPhone and automakers’ navigation techniques.

“It is a world coverage downside. There’s a clear consciousness concerning the want of a transition towards the electrical mobility. On a century scale transformation this isn’t an issue,” Cingolani stated.