Here we go again. Renault is the latest in a long string of automakers signaling the gradual demise of the internal combustion engine in Europe. According to CEO Luca de Meo, the French marque will become an entirely electric car manufacturer on the Old Continent by 2030. A similar timeframe has been provided by Ford of Europe, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Volvo.
Most brands part of the Stellantis automotive conglomerate will also ditch gasoline and diesel engines between now and the end of the decade. These include Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Opel/Vauxhall, Lancia, Peugeot, Maserati, and DS Automobiles. Genesis will wave goodbye to old-school engines in 2030 as well, while mainstream brands Hyundai and Kia have already announced to go EV-only by 2035.
In addition, BMW-owned MINI will exclusively sell EVs by the early 2030s and Mercedes has said it will be ready to sell only electric cars in 2030, but only where market conditions will allow.
Getting back to Renault, its head honcho revealed during a media event hosted at the R&D center near Paris the company “will be 100 percent electric in 2030 in Europe.” It would appear the automaker with the diamond logo is accelerating its EV efforts as a statement made in July 2021 by its CEO mentioned 90 percent of the firm’s cars would be electric by the end of the decade. Now, the percentage has been bumped to cover all cars.
De Meo specified only Renault-badged vehicles will drop the ol’ ICE in Europe by 2030 as its low-cost division Dacia is expected to still sell cars with traditional powertrains even after that date. He went on to mention the Romanian brand will embrace electrification “at the last possible moment” while still living up to its ethos of providing great value for money.
2035 could represent the cutoff date for combustion engines provided a proposal made by the European Union will be voted favorably. Until then, much stricter emissions regulations are scheduled to come into effect in the latter half of the decade when car manufacturers will have to comply with the Euro 7 standard.
Source: Automotive News Europe
