The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, has indicated this Wednesday that banning the combustion vehicle in 2035, as approved by the European Parliament (EP), “is a serious mistake” because it generates “uncertainty” and once again slows down buying cars. During the inauguration of the 32nd congress of the Faconauto official dealership association, in which the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has also intervened, Imaz has said that, with this measure, people do not know again what car to buy and it generates a refusal to replace the private vehicle for now.
In addition, it has considered that vehicle manufacturers do not have an incentive to invest in improving the efficiency of the combustion engine, which means that emissions are not reduced. He has also affirmed that “we cannot only help electric cars”, which cannot be bought by the majority of the population; and he recalled that the Spanish industry, which still produces and repairs many combustion cars, “suffers” for having only supported zero emission vehicles.
Urges to bet on the renovation of the park
He recalled that there are many other forms of motorization and that what you have to do is bet on the renewal of the car fleet. Imaz has indicated that, if we were able to renew the entire car park in Spain car by car with the same technologies as those that exist, CO2 emissions from transport in the country would be reduced by 30%.
For Imaz, “demonizing” some technologies, such as diesel, has had the effect of stopping buying new cars, while more diesel cars over 10 years old would be purchased, waiting for how the prohibitions evolve and therefore where and what vehicles may circulate in the future. In addition, he has said that Repsol had predictions of a decline in fuel sales ten years ago that are not occurring to the extent that they anticipated, because old cars, which are the ones that consume and pollute the most, are not replaced.
