Unveiling Europe’s corporate car problem

In the EU, six out of ten new car registrations are corporate. Because of the size of this car segment, corporate cars are ideally positioned to accelerate greenhouse gas emission savings and lead the transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). They typically drive twice as much as private cars, meaning they emit much more CO2. Given their shorter ownership period, corporate vehicles enter the second-hand market after a few years only, at a lower price - meaning they are a source of affordable electric cars for households.

In order to overcome this corporate car problem and untap the full environmental and industrial potential of corporate fleets, T&E is calling for the following measures:

• In the context of the current public consultation on Greening Corporate Fleets, the new European Commission should propose a Corporate Fleets Regulation setting binding ZEV targets for large fleets (as of 100 cars) and leasing companies (100% new registrations by 2030), within the first 100 days of its mandate.

• This Regulation should include a made-in-Europe clause, promoting domestic manufacturing.

• This Regulation can be proposed as a replacement of the Clean Vehicles Directive of which the targets - due to the 2030 CO2 emission targets for carmakers - have become obsolete. Therefore the Commission needs to bring forward the review of the Clean Vehicles Directive (planned for 2027).

• National governments should reform corporate car taxation, incentivising the uptake of zero-emission vehicles by increasing the tax burden on diesel, petrol and plug-in hybrid vehicles to further increase the total tax differential between fossil fuel and zero-emission vehicles.