“The fate of the European automotive industry is at stake this year”, this is the crux of the double interview given by John Elkann, president of Stellantis, and Luca de meo, number one of Renault, to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro. “This year for the first time the China will produce more than Europe and the United States put together,” says Elkann clearly, who, together with his colleague, is asking the European Union for a radical and rapid simplification of the regulations to be able to "offer popular cars" again. We need to hurry because the shared fear of the two managers is that there is no more time and that the car industry in the Old Continent could disappear.
Elkann: “2025 is a crucial year”. De Meo: “The market is a disaster”
Tariffs complicate the situation, of course, but they are not the only problem: “2025 is a crucial moment – explains Elkann -. Europe must choose whether it still wants to be a land of automotive industry or simply a market. In five years, at this rate of decline, it will be too late.. The fate of the European automotive industry is being played out this year.”
“The current level of the market is a disaster, there is a strategic issue at stake for the States too, the sector represents 400 billion in tax revenues in Europe”, De Meo instead underlines, explaining: “There are two schools of thought among European manufacturers”. The first is that of Stellantis and Renault, who intend to produce and sell popular cars in Europe and for Europe. The second is that of premium brands, “for which Europe certainly counts, but whose priority is export”. Since the XNUMXs, this second approach has prevailed “on market regulation”. And now the European rules mean that “our cars are increasingly complex, increasingly heavy, increasingly expensive, and that people, for the most part, simply I can't afford them anymore“To change the pace, “we need to start again from the question”.
Elkann asks for "certainty and rapid decision-making", De Meo different rules for small cars
Speaking to Le Figaro, Elkann highlights: “What we need What we need is rapid decision-making and certainty. We are not asking for help, but only to be allowed to work, innovate and bring people the cleanest and most accessible vehicles, which they want and need. In Europe, we are talking to states that unfortunately have little room for maneuver and a European Commission that has little capacity to act. In China, in the United States and in emerging countries, they are building strong industrial policies”.
The president of Stellantis recalls that “France, Italy and Spain are the countries most affected: their populations are the buyers of cars whose prices have increased, and they are also the producers. And together they weigh more than Germany in terms of production. It is important that these countries make the promotion of their industry their priority.”
“What we are asking for – says De Meo – is a differentiated regulation for small cars. There are too many rules designed for larger and more expensive cars, which does not allow us to make small cars in acceptable profitability conditions”. The manager gives a concrete example: You cannot treat a 3,80-meter car like a 5,5-meter car! The premium is the same on a small car as on a large sedan. This eats away at a good part of the small car’s margin. And it will continue like this”. It is not convenient for anyone: “My R5 must react like a high-end sedan whose bonnet is three times longer in the event of a frontal impact. It is physics. Should I make a tungsten bonnet?”.
“All the countries in the world that have an automobile industry are organizing themselves to protect their market, except Europe” accuses the number one of Renault who asks Europe to continue “to put around the same table regulators, industrialists and scientists to develop future standards”.
Elkann: “250 million polluting cars need to be replaced”
“Don’t think we are nostalgic for the 20th century. We are 21st century industrialists, capable of offering the greatest number of people a complete range of products, from fully electric to hybrid and new-generation thermal, as demonstrated by the products we have recently launched: Citroën C3, Fiat Grande Panda, Peugeot 3008” adds the president of Stellantis.
The EU has focused only on new cars and "on the sole objective of zero-emission vehicles – adds Elkann – But what is important for our environment is replace the 250 million cars in circulation that are polluting and whose average age does not stop increasing: it is twelve years in Europe and reaches up to 17 years in Greece. Decarbonization can really accelerate renewing the car fleet with various, innovative and competitive technologies, thus revitalizing demand".
And the moves undertaken by the EU go in a different direction. De Meo also underlines that "as it is written, Directive 2035 leads to a halved market. Because we must be clear, the market does not buy what Europe wants us to sell. Replacing all current volumes with electric, under these conditions, we will not succeed”.
And in the US Ford suspends guidance due to tariffs
But news about the car also comes from the USA, Ford Motor he saw more than halve first quarter profit (471 million dollars, from 1,332 billion in the same period last year, but still above estimates) while revenues fell to 40,659 billion, from 42,77 billion. The blame, explains the company, is on the duties that will weigh heavily on the profits of the auto group. Ford, which suspended 2025 guidance precisely because of the uncertainty caused by the trade war (GM and Stellantis had also done the same), it said it expected an impact of 1,5 billion on the adjusted EBIT for the entire year, unless there were positive developments on tariffs (it had previously estimated an adjusted EBIT of 8,5 billion for the year).
The withdrawal of the guidance, the company explained, is also due to the possible “turbulence in the supply chain at the industrial level” linked to Trump’s tariffs and the risk that taxes could increase in the future.
