Already today, car manufacturers pay penalties for classic cars that release too much into the air. But this will become even more difficult with the upcoming Euro 7 standard. Some analysts are already predicting the end of completely classic cars with an internal combustion engine by 2025.
The Euro 7 standard will replace the current Euro 6 standard, which has been in force since 2014. And although it most likely will not come into force before the end of 2025, manufacturers and major players in the European automotive industry have repeatedly emphasized the importance of a clear short and medium term, as for establishing a transition process is crucial. Namely, it is extremely difficult for the industry to adapt to the transition itself in an extremely short period of time. This is always associated with increased costs.
Emission standards of the European Union already limit emissions such as fine particles, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide from cars and trucks with internal combustion engines. As regulations become increasingly restrictive, manufacturers are forced to accelerate their electrification process and ultimately include new hybrid, plug-in hybrid and/or 100% electric vehicles in their range. For example, Honda will no longer introduce non-hybrid models in the EU. A good example is the arrival of the new Honda Civic at the end of this year. this one will only be available as a hybrid. Ordinary cars, motorized classics are therefore saying goodbye.
More and more manufacturers are changing their strategy without knowing exactly what the Euro 7 standard will bring. Namely, everyone is convinced that the limitations of the standard will be so technologically restrictive that the development of classic engines will no longer make sense. Recently, we have witnessed how well-known manufacturers have decided to abandon internal combustion engines and give priority to purely electric mobility. For example, it was recently announced that Nissan will stop developing new internal combustion engines for Europe. A decision related to the expected costs to comply with the Euro 7 standard.
The development of new engines requires significant investments, both in terms of money and time, but if the schedule of changes is inevitably shortened, there can be only one logical solution: abandoning internal combustion engines and focusing only on electricity. In any case, the end of "thermal classic" engines is planned for the year 2035.
The problem also remains because the first versions of the Euro 7 standard, as the VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry) pointed out some time ago, effectively banned internal combustion engines. These strict emissions regulations were later relaxed with a new draft in April 2021. But this is still not enough. To justify such investments in the development of cleaner classic internal combustion engines.
Meanwhile, some manufacturers such as Nissan have already announced that they will stop developing internal combustion engines. BMW plans to follow the same path, but from 2030 onwards. These are restrictions that go far beyond what happened with the adoption of the Euro 6 standard in 2014, which caused many manufacturers to abandon the A segment (city car segment) because the high cost of developing new engines simply made it no longer profitable.
We can expect that many manufacturers will focus even more seriously on the production of electric vehicles, which will be the only environmental alternative in 2035 precisely because of the many uncertainties. At that time, car classics will be banned.
