The boss of the car manufacturer Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, described” error “ and of “double punishment” Monday on RTL the increase in the penalty on gasoline and diesel cars announced by the government as part of the 2025 Budget.
The finance bill presented on Friday reforms two car penalties paid by motorists when registering the vehicle, the CO2 penalty and the weight penalty, both of which see their trigger thresholds lowered.
“I think it’s a mistake, it’s a double punishment, it’s not useful to make thermal vehicles unaffordable, it’s a penalty for the freedom of movement of the middle classes, 70% of our fellow citizens have need their car for their everyday life, especially to go to work”underlined Mr. Tavares.
He judges that “undermining freedom of movement through the economic aspect of our middle classes is an error”. “That’s not how we’re going to solve the problem.”he asserts, “we must start by working on reducing the price of electric vehicles, to make this mobility completely affordable, but also to combat the Chinese offensive”.
“I don’t think it’s a good measure, it doesn’t suit anyone, neither citizens nor businesses, I understand that it creates additional tax revenue, but I also think that the automobile industry has already shown a lot of generosity in terms of creating tax revenue »continued the boss of Stellantis.
“By charging car manufacturers, one day they will end up on one knee.”he added, emphasizing that “14 million people in Europe make a living from cars”.
Carlos Tavares also returned to the announcement at the end of September of a clear downward revision of the group’s operating margin objective, now estimated between 5.5% and 7%, against “two digits” previously, for the year 2024.
“The problem which led to our + profit warning + (warning on results, Editor’s note) is an American problem which is being resolved and will be resolved before Christmas”he said.
“Restoring the situation is not going to be anything particularly difficult, because the problems we encountered (…) are very clearly identified: it is essentially a problem of excessive stock” et “we have already reduced our stock by 52,000 units over the last three months”added Mr. Tavares.
