The proposed Euro 7 emission standard will prevent Škoda Auto from producing and homologating small cars such as the Kamiq, Scala and Fabia, wrote Škoda works council chairman Jaroslav Povšík.
According to him, the standard will also have an impact on the development and homologation of other components important for the operation of cars, such as tires, brakes, but also, for example, air conditioning fluid.
The proposed Euro 7 standard aims, among other things, to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and solid particles released into the air. Euro 7 is supposed to harmonize the limits for petrol and diesel cars, vehicles will have to comply with it for twice as long as the current standards, and in addition to exhausts, it will also apply to brakes and tires. In addition, the cars should have sensors that allow emissions to be checked at any time. It should pay in two years.
Škoda Auto has already announced that the introduction of the standard will increase the price of smaller manufactured cars in particular by tens of thousands of crowns, making them unsaleable. The price of small models would start at 450,000 CZK, which, according to Škoda representatives, is unacceptable for customers.
Last year, Škoda delivered to customers 96,300 Kamiq cars, 39,500 units of the Scala model and 92,700 Fabias. These cars accounted for 31 percent of the brand’s total sales.
In April, Povšík will participate in a delegation to Brussels together with the chairman of the Volkswagen works council, Daniela Cavallo, and other employee representatives. “All the knowledge I get from these meetings (with employees) I will transfer to our European and even the World Council of Volkswagen employees so that we can lobby Brussels objectively, and if it is not possible to use arguments, we will have to use emotions. I have already personally experienced raids in Brussels, I myself have been there at least four times, for example when we stood up for the Volkswagen law. The last time, steel workers were there from us, so that the politicians in that remote seat cut off from ordinary human life, in a tangle of corridors, relationships and also corruption, knew that we can come there for them,” said Povšík.
Other domestic car manufacturers, as well as the government and members of parliament, oppose the planned Euro 7 standard. According to them, the industry will not have enough time to implement the requirements of the standard, and at the same time it will cost additional investments that manufacturers could use to prepare for the end of production of cars with internal combustion engines in 2035.
