Europe’s top five carmakers more than double profits since 2019

theguardian.com:

Europe’s top five carmakers have more than doubled their profits since 2019 despite claiming that they cannot afford to comply with planned EU pollution rules, a new analysis reveals. The European auto industry’s “big five” — BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Stellantis and Volkswagen — collectively pocketed €64bn in profits by selling fewer cars, yet at more expensive prices, according to the study by Transport and Environment (T&E), a green thinktank.

But the five firms, which are this year paying out €27bn in shareholder dividends and stock buybacks, argue through their trade association that de-toxifying car exhaust emissions would send car prices soaring by up to €2,000.

CEO pay at the car companies has ballooned too. VW was the only one of the five large automobile companies not yet to have increased its top executive’s pay since 2019, but at the other four companies surveyed CEO pay rose between 22% and 103% over the same period, the report says. The average pay hike for a big five CEO over the three years of pandemic, war and inflation, was 50%. Europe has introduced a number of measures – the “Euro 7” as they’re known — to cut the annual toll of 70,000 premature deaths in Europe from roadside emissions, and would cost €90-150 per car according to European Commission figures. Globally, air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have been blamed for 6.7m premature deaths and more than a million stillbirths each year, as well as respiratory diseases, dementia and mental illness.

But earlier this month, Volkswagen called for the start of the Euro 7 scheme to be delayed, owing to its lead-in time and expense. Dirk Ameer, a spokesperson for Volkswagen said that the proposal would push up prices and