Porsche CFO: EU may postpone ban on new combustion-engine cars

The European Union’s plan to phase out sales of new combustion-engine cars by 2035 could be delayed, Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke said, according to Bloomberg.

„There is currently a lot of discussion about the end of combustion engines,“ Meschke said.

„I think this could be postponed,“ he added.

Slowing orders for electric cars have raised doubts about whether the European Union will follow through on its plan to phase out combustion-engine vehicles. The move is one of the most ambitious efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions. Consumers in the region are deterred from buying electric cars by a lack of reliable charging points, persistently high prices and the withdrawal of purchase incentives. The UK has already postponed its planned ban on sales of new petrol and diesel models by five years, to 2035.

Premium and luxury electric-car makers can do without subsidies, but the withdrawal of subsidies is a bad thing in the more affordable mass-market segment, Meschke said. Given the current reluctance to buy electric cars in Europe, subsidies could return, he said.

Last year, Germany refused to support the adoption of the EU plan to phase out new combustion-engine vehicles and demanded that Brussels also protect vehicles powered by so-called e-fuels, which are produced through an electrolytic process that uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen obtained this way can then be used as a basis for producing synthetic fuels, including synthetic petrol, diesel or methane. Porsche supports this technology. In 2022, the carmaker joined a group of investors that put USD 260 million (CZK 5.9 billion) into a start-up building a plant to produce these fuels in Chile.