Policy

Handelsblatt and the FAZ report that Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron have agreed a joint position on the EU auto package: a further ten percentage points off the 2035 car CO2 target, taking it to roughly 80% rather than the Commission's proposed 90%, in exchange for German support for stricter “Made in Europe” rules.

Article 28 of France's 2027 draft budget, presented on 1 October 2026, would add a resilience criterion to the eco-score that gates the country's EV purchase aid, treating cars whose battery supply chain is dominated by a non-EU country less favourably.

On 28 September 2026 Politico reported that UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, described tariffs on Chinese electric cars as under review and the decision as finely balanced — a shift from his 18 September position ruling them out. The move follows an EU demand that Britain align its China trade policy or join the customs union to access the bloc's 'made in Europe' programme. Britain applies a flat 10% duty where the EU adds anti-subsidy duties of 7.8% to 35.3%; Tesla's Shanghai-built Model 3 pays 17.8% in the EU and 10% in the UK.

ACEA commissioned an analysis of whether Europe can supply the EU-origin battery cells its own draft 'Made in EU' rules would demand. It cannot: around three million cars would fail to qualify if the Industrial Accelerator Act takes effect in 2028, and European cell output only reaches 306 GWh by 2032. Tesla starts building cells at Grünheide in 2027.

The Financial Times reported on 25 September 2026 that the EU has told the UK to raise tariffs on China-built cars and align with EU trade policy, or join its customs union, to avoid 'made in Europe' barriers. The EU charges anti-subsidy duties of up to 35.3% on top of a 10% import tariff; Tesla's Shanghai-built Model 3 pays 7.8%. The UK charges a flat 10% and nothing more, which Brussels fears makes Britain a backdoor into the single market.

France opened a consultation on 17 September 2026 on a draft arrêté adding a third éco-score category for larger cars — 7+ seats, a 410-litre boot or 550 km of range. It keeps the 21,000 kg CO₂-eq ceiling while the middle band tightens to 19,300 kg. Consultation closes 7 October.

UN Regulation No. 79 caps remote parking at 6 metres, which is why Tesla's Actually Smart Summon barely works in Europe. UNECE has proposed raising that to 10 metres, or 15 where the car stays in the driver's line of sight, after carmaker body OICA and supplier body CLEPA asked for it. North America allows 65 metres. The change is a proposal with no adoption date; if it passes it would reach cars over the air.

Brussels has asked Beijing to voluntarily limit Chinese-built hybrid sales in Europe to around 15% of the EU market, the Financial Times reported on 17 September 2026, with an anti-subsidy investigation already being prepared if China refuses. Chinese hybrid imports rose more than tenfold, from 3,800 vehicles in October 2024 to about 50,000 in July 2026, because hybrids pay the 10% baseline duty while Chinese BEVs pay up to 45.3%.

The Dutch Miljoenennota presented on 15 September 2026 introduces a greentimerregeling cutting company-car tax on EVs aged five to eight years from 22% to 14%, capped at a €65,000 catalogue value and limited to three years per car. Sources disagree on whether it starts in 2028 or 2029.

NHTSA has reportedly issued a formal Special Order to Tesla, dated 10 September 2026, requiring the company to explain under oath how a car with no steering wheel, no pedals and no mirrors complies with six Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Tesla has until 30 September to answer, and the statutory exposure for failing to answer fully runs to about $139 million. The order has not yet appeared in NHTSA's public investigation file.

Electrifying, New AutoMotive and BatteryIQ are urging the UK government to require a standardised battery state-of-health certificate on every dealer-sold used EV. Research puts 57% of prospective buyers off a used EV without one, even though average retained battery health across the used fleet is about 95%.

The Commission is preparing an economic bloc with the UK, Japan and South Korea that would let cars built in those three countries claim the same Buy-European advantages as cars made in the EU, according to the European Parliament's trade committee chair.

S&P Global Mobility expects Chinese-brand assembly in Europe to rise from around 90,000 cars this year to one million a year by 2030 and 1.5 million by 2035. The EU's draft Industrial Accelerator Act would attach local-content quotas to that build-out, so a car assembled in Spain or Hungary from imported Chinese parts would not count as European. The test lands on Tesla too, because Grünheide still buys most of its cells abroad.

A clause in Germany's draft EEG 2027 would permanently limit new sub-100 kW solar installations to feeding 50% of their rated capacity into the grid. Because the limit is measured at the property's grid connection rather than at the inverter, home batteries and bidirectionally charging cars fall under the same ceiling. The VDA, Volkswagen's Elli, 1Komma5°, Enpal, Octopus Energy and even a grid operator are objecting together.

The Times reports that ministers will announce an early review of the ZEV Mandate this week, with the 2030 target of 80% zero-emission sales reportedly in play at 70%, 60% or even 50%. Charging operators and EV-sector bodies have gone public against it, and their argument is about investor confidence rather than targets.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla managers were told to prepare an organisational separation of the China business, including Shanghai, with a spin-off, sale or closure all on the table. Elon Musk denied it within hours. China was about 18% of Tesla's sales in the first half of 2026.

Germany's Bundesnetzagentur is advancing two reforms in parallel that decide what a fast-charging hub pays for its grid connection and whether feeding power back out of a car battery can pay. The regulator published the current working status of the storage and charging-point rules on 5 August 2026, but grid operators are expected to need six to twelve months to implement them.

The European Commission's December 2025 proposal replaces the 100% CO2 cut for new cars in 2035 with a 90% target, leaving room for plug-in hybrids, range extenders and e-fuels — but it is still a proposal, not law.

Asked about combining Tesla and SpaceX on the 22 July earnings call, Elon Musk pointed to growing overlap between the two companies — 'especially with Terafab' — and declined to rule a merger out, while deferring to Tesla's counsel and 'the appropriate process'. Nothing is confirmed, but the comments and 22 shareholder questions on the topic have fuelled heavy speculation.

Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is reviewing Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, coordinating with the Dutch RDW that issued the first provisional EU approval in April. Reports suggest German approval is nearing, but no official date is confirmed — and the unrestricted Autobahn may force extra high-speed testing.