Plans to ban petrol and diesel car sales in 2035 risk hundreds of thousands of jobs across the continent’s manufacturing sector, Italy’s development minister has warned.
Calling on Brussels to review the plan, Adolfo Urso said he would hold meetings this week to demand the rules be delayed.
Europe, like the UK, has set rules for new petrol and diesel car sales to be ended by 2035 to boost the adoption of electric vehicles.
Such a target, which last year was delayed from 2030 in the UK, has faced scrutiny from industry members as demand for electrics fails to build pace.
“The road map of the Green Deal, as it was designed, has already demonstrated its contradictions with the collapse of the European electric vehicle market and the grave crisis of European carmakers,” Urso told the Financial Times.
“The data speaks for itself. It’s already clear the road map [...] is not sustainable.”
Carmakers in the UK are mandated to ensure a proportion of their sales are made up of electrics from this year, with the figure set to rise annually from 22% in 2024.
However, data from industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in August showed electric vehicle sales were lagging behind the mandate.
Some 16.8% of car sales over the first seven months of the year were electrics, with this forecast to sit at 18.5% for the whole of 2024 and behind the 22% target.