It was German car makers who were most agitated about the prospect of a combustion engine ban. However, others, such as eco-think-tank Transport & Environment (T&E), say that a weakening of the 2035 standards would just allow Europe’s car makers to become lazy and to stop pushing new technology forward. You guessed it: the car CO2 regulations spurred this progress by requiring EU carmakers to sell electric cars, and to invest and compete. Under the Biden administration, US car makers would have had to improve the average fuel economy of their vehicle ranges by 10 per cent in 2026. The Trump reset lowers that to just 1.5 per cent, allowing car makers to ramp up production of what were once called “gas-guzzlers”.

Source: The Irish Times December 13, 2025 21:30 UTC