Volvo Automobiles has introduced it is going to depart Europe’s important automotive lobbying group, ACEA, by the top of this yr.
The automaker, which goals to be electric-only by 2030, mentioned in an announcement Friday that its sustainability technique is “not totally aligned with ACEA’s positioning and approach of working at this stage. We due to this fact consider it’s higher to take a distinct path for now.”
Stellantis mentioned final month it is going to exit ACEA by the top of this yr as a part of a brand new method to deal with future mobility points that features a shift away from conventional lobbying exercise.
The automaker, which has 14 manufacturers, mentioned will maintain its personal annual occasion to deal with mobility points. Collectively, Volvo and Stellantis accounted for 21.5 p.c of gross sales within the area by 5 months, based on ACEA’s figures.
Volvo and ACEA have had very completely different reactions to Europe’s efforts to section out combustion engines by 2035.
ACEA mentioned final month it was “involved” that the European Parliament had rejected efforts to weaken a 100% discount in CO2 emissions from new automobiles from 2035, primarily outlawing gross sales of internal-combustion engines within the bloc after that date.
Volvo, together with Ford Motor, publicly supported the plan.
“We will be a full-electric firm 5 years sooner than that [the EU’s planned phaseout], so, why would not we be public and vocal saying that we predict that is the very best factor for our enterprise mannequin, our clients and for the planet,” Volvo CEO Jim Rowan advised Automotive Information Europe in an interview final month.
Whereas he wasn’t able to announce Volvo’s plan to exit ACEA in that interview regardless of being requested whether or not the automaker would depart the group, he did say that as electrification turns into extra prevalent: “There could be different organizations that pop up and try to corral trade thought management to get to get the very best minds collectively from an trade standpoint.”
In Friday’s announcement Volvo made it clear it was open to becoming a member of such a corporation and requested different automakers to be part of this group.
“We consider that it’s incumbent on all of us to step as much as the problem. We now have one of the formidable plans within the trade, however we will not understand zero-emission transport by ourselves,” Volvo mentioned. “We urge our friends to make their mark. Whoever does so will discover a sturdy ally in Volvo Automobiles. We look ahead to working with companions to deal with local weather change for a safer tomorrow.”