Polestar urges Europe not to postpone 2035 ICE car ban

Polestar has urged the European Commission (EC) not to roll back on its commitment to ban the sale of non-electric cars by 2035 ahead of crunch talks this Friday.

Automotive industry leaders will meet EC president Ursula von der Leyen on Friday to try to secure a relaxation of the CO2 rules, and only Polestar and sibling Volvo have taken the opposite view to keep the status quo.

Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller said discussions on going all-electric had been completed and the decision already made, and reversing that was now "completely the wrong way" to go about things, particularly so given that even those looking to have the ban relaxed agreed "the future of mobility is without emissions".

"If we all agree on that, then the question is what is the best and fastest way to get there?" Lohscheller told Autocar at the Munich motor show. "I can't see that postponing it by five years is going to help anything, because we have to do the transformation anyhow. We might as well do it immediately."

Lohscheller's Polestar unveiled the new Polestar 5 sports saloon in Munich, and he used the event to poke fun at its rivals who have made U-turns on EV pledges. The event featured branding with quotes from the likes of Audi's and Mercedes' CEOs, who have made recent comments looking to preserve internal-combustion engines even though their companies have previously taken the opposite view.

Lohscheller said Europe should in fact take the opposite view on EVs and "lead on this" transition, because “then so many more opportunities come out of this, right?

"At the end of the day, it will happen anyhow. Do we say it's 2035 or 2040? I don't see any point in postponing it. The argument is always that more jobs may disappear and so on, but postponing five years may endanger more jobs, right?

"I think changes are inevitable and let's do them right away."

Lohscheller rejected the view from other car makers that there were not enough charging points, and that EV range wasn't good enough.

"I think as an industry we just need to learn to be competitive and produce cars that are more cost-competitive. I don't buy these arguments. Maybe one company can't do it, but others will find a way."