'New EU car rules will not save the industry'

Companies cannot need mathematicians and consultants to understand the new regulations. To save the car, offsets and various credits and coefficients must disappear. Sustainable mobility in economic, environmental and social terms passes through full technological neutrality, which has not been examined.

With what consequences?

Mobility in Europe will be guaranteed by Chinese manufacturers. European manufacturers and supply chains that are extremely innovative but are not left free to act will disappear. The problem is not the clash between environmentalists and non-environmentalists. Politicians must reaffirm that doing industry in Europe is worthwhile. Otherwise there is a risk that the Volkswagen cases will be repeated in other sectors after the launch of the first VW-branded car produced entirely in China.

So?

We are not giving up. We intend to fight these proposals in order to change them because either they change or companies close. To achieve this we are also prepared to go to Brussels to demonstrate in support of European manufacturing. Because it can be sustainable and have a future if it is freed from the constraints and uneconomic effects of EU rules.

Are the new car regulations all that harmful?

Take fleets, there are compensatory credits if they contain green steel produced in the EU. But do you know how much it costs? 30% more than Chinese steel. Due to the high cost of energy, our industry cannot compete globally.

So we don't have to produce steel in Europe any more?

No you have to produce it but it is the market rules that set opportunities and choices. We can be competitive as long as the conditions are created. Which are not there today. If we do not change, the car industry in crisis today risks becoming a dangerous precedent. With a paradox: our industry does not lack the potential and capacity for innovation to reach European targets. Provided it is freed from the cage of unsustainable EU rules.

Does the Brussels project support the launch of a European electric small car?

For four months now, you can buy the Chinese Byd on the European market for EUR 13,000. Do you think the EU competitor will cost less? Why not let European manufacturers decide how and what to do to conquer the market? The important thing is that the car does not pollute.

More dangerous for the survival of the industry is China or the EU regulatory and technocratic hypertrophy?

Chinese industry lives on government subsidies but is free to develop technological innovation. We have rules that stifle our competitiveness and we are not free to do what we should. It is not true that we are not there on innovation. Quite the contrary. The reality is that we cannot act, we have our way homologated by rules and schemes that hamper our industry's ability to operate. We can no longer afford it.