The challenges of 2024 will be many and complicated for the car. First of all there is the ecological one on which everyone still seems rather divided. Electricity isn’t taking off and next year, after the European elections, some surprises could arrive from Brussels. Certainly not a change of direction on the choice of battery-powered cars but perhaps an extension of time (now the stop on sales of models with internal combustion engines is set for 2035) or an exemption on synthetic fuels.
But we’ll see. In the meantime the game is underway and the most interesting comparison is played on prices. It is a crucial issue on which the “bank” of the zero emissions operation can also jump. We will never tire of saying it (and this time we told it in the cover story of this issue of Motore): if car prices don’t drop and cheaper electric models than the current ones don’t land in Europe, the market will never take off.
With an average price of over 65 thousand euros in the old continent (compared to 31 thousand in China) the energy transition stops. Or in any case it will never become a mobility revolution destined to change the environmental scenario of Europe.
What to do, then? Much will depend on politics. We need clear signals from governments in favor of green mobility through the use of large resources. We need important incentives that immediately make the purchase of an electric “an advantageous operation” compared to one with a combustion engine.
Finally, what is needed in France is “social leasing” and which Macron is about to introduce: a monthly installment for green vehicles starting from 75 euros. Will they also think about it in our area?
Subjects