Speech by Commissioner Hoekstra in the European Parliaments Plenary debate on the future of the automotive industry

Honourable Members,

Europes industry has been at the forefront of technological progress for decades. This has underpinned our economic prosperity and shaped our social market economy.

This is especially true for our automotive industry. Its a truly fantastic sector. The EU is the second largest producer of motor vehicles in the world, behind China but significantly ahead of the US. The trade surplus in motor vehicles has recently risen to almost EUR 100 billion euro. The sector employs 3 million Europeans in direct and indirect manufacturing.

But the automotive industry is also undergoing a profound change towards zero-emission and digitalisation. On top of that, the industry is facing fierce unfair competition from outside the EU, lower sales, higher costs of energy, and supply chain dependencies. That affects competitiveness throughout the value chain. And, as if it was not enough: the world is going through huge geopolitical turmoil.

All this requires our full attention and action. We need to make sure we find smart and workable solutions solutions.

That is why we will continue supporting the sector so that automotive companies not only survive, but thrive on European soil.

President von der Leyen and Commissioners Tzitzikostas, Séjourné, Roswall and myself have gathered automotive stakeholders this year for a series of Strategic Dialogues on the Future of the European automotive industry.

As a result, we now have the Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector. It lays out what is needed to support the EU automotive industrys transition to clean, connected, and increasingly automated vehicles, and to ensure it stays competitive globally.

Over the past months, several of these actions have been implemented and many others are coming up.

Keep in mind, for example, the targeted amendment to the CO2 emission standards for new cars and vans we proposed in April of this year. And which was adopted in record time. This gives industry greater flexibility to comply with the target between 2025 and 2027, while leaving overall targets unchanged.

While being pragmatic on the ‘how, we feel it also makes sense to stay the course on the ‘what. We need to decarbonise the sector, as emissions from transport are still above the levels of 30 years ago.

Were doing it because it makes sense, not only for our climate goals, but also for economic, security and geopolitical reasons.

Global players are speeding up investments. More than one out of five cars sold in 2024 globally was electric.

This is why we have set a clear framework for the transition to zero-emission vehicles with a clear target by 2035. This creates certainty for manufacturers and investors, while providing enough time to plan a fair transition.

The objective is clear. Therefore, we should also aim to find smart and workable ways forward, in the context of the review of the CO2 standards Regulation.

During the third Strategic Dialogue in September, we confirmed wed speed up work to come forward with the foreseen review by the end of this calendar year.

We have launched a call for evidence and public consultation, which will close this week. We will carefully assess all input received, as we are preparing the impact assessment.

In that context, the Commission will continue to commit to the principle of technology neutrality. The impact assessment will look into all main technology developments, with their potential and their own challenges, be it plug-in hybrids, range extenders, e-fuels or other types of renewable fuels.

As set out in the Action Plan, we also intend to come forward – still this year – with a proposal to decarbonise corporate fleets. Experiences from Member States have shown this to be a promising path to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles.

The Commission will also soon come with a Battery Booster, with the aim to achieve near-term cost competitiveness of domestically produced cells and components.

And as announced by President von der Leyen in her State of the Union address, we are preparing an initiative on small and affordable electric cars. Clean mobility should be within reach for everyone.

Meanwhile, we will keep engaging with industry and other stakeholders to monitor the situation and identify further strategic needs.

In our view, with the right policy framework in place, ensuring we deliver on the necessary enabling conditions, and with such innovative and committed companies here in Europe, were confident there is, as there should be, a thriving future for our European automotive industry.