Today, on May 8, Parliament adopted a change to CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans.

With 458 votes for, 101 against and 14 abstentions, MEPs supported the Commission’s proposal to support Europe’s automotive sector, which is experiencing the impact of rapid technological changes and increasing competition.

The proposed change offers manufacturers the possibility to comply with their obligations for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027 by averaging their performance over the three-year period, rather than each individual year. This approach would allow to balance any excess annual emissions by outperforming the target in subsequent year(s).

The current rules set annual targets, covering five-year periods, for reducing average CO2 emissions from new cars and vans across the EU fleet. From 2025, an annual CO2 emission reduction target of 15% compared to 2021 values will be in application for the 2025-2029 period.

Next steps

To speed up its adoption, Parliament agreed on Tuesday to deal with the file under its urgent procedure. To enter into force, the draft law now requires formal approval by the Council, which endorsed the same text on 7 May 2025.

Background

The proposal is part of the Commission's industrial action plan for the European automotive sector, announced on 5 March 2025. It followed the strategic dialogue on the future of the automotive industry launched by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 30 January 2025, which involved an open public consultation and discussions with industry and stakeholders to address the most pressing challenges facing the sector.

We are presenting the results on PRODUCTION OF MOTOR VEHICLES and ENGINES FOR MECHANICAL VEHICLES in POLAND in MARCH 2025, based on data from the Central Statistical Office (CSO)'

PASSENGER CARS
y/y change: March -51,4% ; January - March: -69,9%

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES (incl.LCV), TRAILER & SEMI-TRAILERS
y/y change: March -2,0% r/r;   January - March: -16,9%

BUSES & COACHES ( (for transporting 10 people and more)
y/y change: March  -23,3% r/r;   January-March: -27,8%

COMBUSTION ENEGINES FOR VEHICLES
y/y change: March  -5,9% r/r;   January-March: -13,0%

Overview of current production figures

We present the latest vehicle registration data for the first 20 days of April 2025. , which show a continuing upward trend in the Polish automotive sector, although the dynamics clearly slowed down compared to the very strong beginning of the month (April 1-10).

•     Passenger cars recorded an increase of 8.5% y/y, which - although lower than the +29.2% from the first decade of the month - still indicates stable demand.
•     Light commercial vehicles (LCVs), with a result of +15.3%, continue to enjoy growing interest - partly due to the recovery in e-commerce and SMEs.
•     Trucks over 3.5t achieved impressive growth of +19.2%, which may indicate a rebound in the transportation and logistics sector.
•     Unicycles, although their momentum slowed, also recorded increases: motorcycles +2.8%, mopeds +7.3%.

Overview of current registrations

On April 14-15 this year, the sixth edition of the TOGETAIR 2025 Climate Summit took place. The event is one of the largest Polish conferences on climate protection and energy transition. The Polish Automotive Industry Association was represented by Michal Wekiera - PZPM Director General, who took part in the panel “Connecting Europe - a new chapter of mobility” together with Przemysław Rajewski, Andrzej Gemra, Bartosz Malarecki, Piotr Kamiński, Dawid Piorun, Jan Buczek and Paweł Kocoń.
The conference was attended by about 2,000 participants - representatives of administration, business, local governments and NGOs.
The program included nearly 30 debates and more than 20 speeches, addressing topics on:
 green technologies
 competitiveness
 electromobility
 nuclear energy
 updating environmental programs.
Among those present at the conference were: Roberta Metsola - President of the European Parliament, Krzysztof Gawkowski - Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Digitization, Urszula Zielińska - Secretary of State at the Ministry of Climate and Environment, and representatives of multinationals such as Renault Trucks Polska, BASF Polska, EDF Polska, as well as representatives of Ferrero, Knauf Insulation, Daimler Truck AG, Samsung Electronics, IKEA, VELUX Group, Saint-Gobain and ROCKWOOL Group .

On April 3, Donald Trump's administration-imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports of cars and light trucks into the US went into effect. An additional tax on car parts and computers - including on-board computers - is set to take effect on May 3.
In response, a meeting was held between representatives of the automotive industry and the authorities. The impact of the new tariffs on the industry and previous crises (COVID, war, raw materials and semiconductor crisis, emission targets) were discussed. It was emphasized that Poland - as a leading parts manufacturer - could indirectly lose up to 320 million Eur a year if auto exports to the US fall.

Jakub Faryś proposed the creation of an inter-ministerial automotive crisis team involving the Ministry of Development and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, under the auspices of the Prime Minister.
The proposal was warmly welcomed by the government side, but the final decision on the establishment of such a team remains with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

We invite you to watch President Jakub Farys' commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG8QYadnEwc