Carmakers paid huge CO2 fines to the EU in 2020, but barely anything since

The year 2020 not only saw a pandemic sweep the world, but also saw carmakers scrambling to adjust to a new regulatory environment for emissions across Europe.

According to documents seen by Automotive News Europe, carmakers operating in Europe paid €510 million ($837 million) in fines for missing their CO2 targets in 2020, but that number dropped to just €10 million ($16 million) in 2021, and nothing in 2022.

The trade publication has confirmed Bentley, DR Motor (an Italian firm that sells rebadged cars from a number of Chinese companies), JLR, Lamborghini, McLaren, Subaru, Suzuki, and Volkswagen all missed their targets in 2020.

This was the first year the bloc began enforcing a stricter standard that limited brands to fleet-wide average emissions of 95g/km under the old NEDC standard, or about 120g/km under the current WLTP protocol.

Companies that went over that target were liable to pay up to €95 ($156) per gram over on every vehicle sold.

In their public filings, Volkswagen admitted to paying €100 million ($164 million) for missing the target by 0.75g/km, while JLR coughed up £35 million ($67 million) for coming up 3g/km shy.

According to Automotive News Europe, Suzuki missed the mark by 10.4g/km, while Subaru blew past the target by a hefty 34g/km.

Although the documents don’t break down the fines paid by each manufacturer, the website estimates Subaru’s small presence in the EU (just 16,176 sales) made it only be liable for €52 million ($86 million), while Suzuki, which sold 160,570 vehicles in 2020, had to cough up around €160 million ($265 million).

Starting in 2021 many carmakers arranged themselves into officially sanctioned pools. In these pools, manufacturers with highly efficient lineups or pure electric ranges would help to offset the emissions from less fuel-efficient carmakers.

The CO2 targets for each pool are also adjusted for size of vehicles sold, with slightly more lenient targets for larger cars.

Only a few brands, including Bugatti and Ferrari, went over the target in 2021.

In 2022, only Bugatti missed the mark, and because it’s such a low-volume manufacturer — just 30 cars sold throughout Europe — it avoided fines.

That year one pool consisting of Tesla, Honda, and Jaguar Land Rover easily limboed under their target emitting an average of just 50g/km, while another consisting of Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru and Toyota squeaked through with 114g/km.

Behind Tesla’s pool, the best performing manufacturer was Kia (100g/km), followed by Hyundai (101g/km) and Stellantis (103g/km). The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (105g/km) rounded out the top five.

Up next were BMW (105g/km), Mercedes-Benz (112g/km), Ford (113g/km), Mazda/Subaru/Suzuki/Toyota, and then Volkswagen (119g/km).

These numbers suggests CO2 fines for automakers for the next few years will be low, but the regulatory screws will tighten in 2025 when the broad target is lowered to 93.6g/km using the WLTP standard.

In 2030 the bar will be dropped to 49.5g/km before going to zero in 2035, effectively banning new cars with petrol and diesel engines.