LONDON (Reuters) – Volvo Cars said on Friday it would leave the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) by the end of 2022, citing differences between its zero-emissions strategy and that of the European car lobby.
The Swedish automaker has pledged to have a range of all-electric cars by 2030, well ahead of the European Union’s proposal to ban fossil-fuel cars from 2035.
Volvo is in favor of a faster switch to zero-emissions transport, but after the European Parliament voted in June in favor of the 2035 deadline, Acea said that “any long-term regulations going beyond this decade is premature at this initial stage.”
In a statement, Volvo said: “We have concluded that Volvo Cars’ sustainability strategy and ambitions are not fully aligned with Acea’s positioning and way of working at this stage.”
“So we think it’s best to go another route at this time,” the automaker added. “What we do as a sector will play a major role in deciding whether the world has a chance of halting climate change.”
The news comes less than a month after the world’s fourth-largest automaker, Stellantis, said it would exit the Acea by the end of 2022, as part of a new approach to address issues and the challenges of future mobility, in particular by moving away from traditional lobbying activities.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association, better known by its French acronym Acea, has been the industry’s main lobby group since its inception in 1991. It unites Europe’s 16 major manufacturers of cars, trucks, vans and buses.
(Report Nick Carey; French version Elitsa Gadeva)
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