European car makers are pleading for speedy clarification on proposals published in December designed to ease the path to full electrification, with specific focus on the new small car category.

Manufacturers including Renault and Stellantis have largely welcomed the proposed changes, which include allowing some combustion-engine sales after 2035. 

However, the detail remains thin on the ground and car makers are concerned that proposals superficially offering a leg-up might be harder to achieve in reality. 

Fabrice Cambolive, head of the Renault brand, told Autocar: “What I would like now is not a change in the direction of what they announced, but a clarification of what they announced.”

One of the biggest potential boosts to European car makers is the planned new small affordable car initiative that creates an M1E sub-category for EU-built electric cars under 4.2 metres in length. 

Selling one of these cars would generate its maker 1.3 EV credits, creating a useful pressure valve in the battle to continue with combustion-engine vehicle sales without racking up unsustainable fines for failing to hit CO2 targets. 

Meanwhile, the EU has also said it will “take into account the proportionally higher impact on development costs that new requirements can have on small electric vehicles”, when applying future regulations, generally referred to as a ‘freeze’ on future rules.

Individual countries and cities including those not in the EU, such as the UK, could also offer incentives for M1E vehicles, like reduced parking charges or scrappage bonuses.

Emanuele Cappellano, Stellantis's new head of Europe, said: “It’s a good initiative. It goes in the right direction.”

Cappellano’s “point of contention” is around EU content plans, which could end up working against the aim to make the cars more affordable. He said: “The EU should define a way to gradually increase the supply chain instead of trying to impose an EU source.”

The idea behind the EU’s small car initiative is to help car makers but also to protect EU jobs by ensuring that any qualifying model is both built in the EU bloc and has lots of local content. 

So far, the parameters haven’t been defined but car makers are nervous that the initiative will clash with a long-held strategy to outsource production and parts supply of cheaper models to cheaper countries.

Some cars will be likely be fine – for example, the Renault 5 and associated models built at the company's plant in Douai, northern France, and fitted with batteries from the nearby AESC plant. Others get more complicated. The Fiat Grande Panda, for example, is built in Serbia – outside the EU – but will it have enough EU-built parts to qualify? 

Chinese components are almost a given these days, and big parts including batteries and electric motors would account for the majority in percentage value calculations. But could an exemption be made for cars built in the EU with an agreed timetable to switch to EU parts? 

The complexity of such a calculation could play into car makers’ hands. Katrin Adt, CEO of Renault-owned Dacia, told Autocar: “I think it would be good not to have it by car, but on a fleet. The easier it is to calculate, the better it is.”

That would help Dacia because its Spring small EV comes from China, while other key models are built in the EU. Renault says it tries to keep its parts suppliers close to plants.

Renault head of product Bruno Vanel said: “We are talking about 1000km [620 miles] around the assembly plant, which means that when we are localising in Europe, we are localising also our supplier space around that.”

Freezing or slowing regulations on small cars is another key hope for car makers as they try to control rising costs, even if safety groups are pushing back on proposals. The European Transport Safety Council said it was “deeply concerned” by the European Commission’s approach to small car safety timelines and accused it of “unprecedented reliance on industry demands”.

Other car maker concerns revolve around the proposals that the few combustion-engine models that are allowed after 2035 are made with low-carbon ‘green’ steel, a rare commodity so far, or run on e-fuels or biofuels, which would be tough to implement.

Whatever the final regulations look like, car makers are keen for them come fast and stay put. Adt said: “I think that the most important thing is now to have clarity and the security to be able to base your decision on something which is reliable for the next years ahead.”