To avoid EU fines, Ford will buy carbon credits from competitors

SMM: Ford will have to buy carbon credits from competitors to help it meet European emissions targets. Ford's recall of its hybrid Kuga, makes it possible for the company to fall short of tough new EU targets for carbon dioxide emissions and face fines.

The new emission rules, which just began to be tried out this year, require car companies to reduce their average carbon dioxide emissions to 95 grams per kilometer or face fines of up to hundreds of billions of yuan.

Detroit-based Ford said it plans to buy carbon credits from competitors that sell more electric and hybrid vehicles. Under EU rules, carmakers can earn credits by selling electric vehicles to offset emissions from more polluting models.

To give carmakers some room for manoeuvre, the EU allows them to buy and sell points between them, meaning that companies that fail to meet their targets can benefit from those with higher sales of electric cars. The deadline for car companies to buy points to meet their 2020 emissions targets is at the end of this month, prompting a battle for points among car companies that are likely to fail to meet their targets.

FCA, which started relatively late in the development of electric vehicles, bought points from Tesla at the end of last year to help it meet its emissions targets. However, several car companies have been hit after sales of electric or hybrid vehicles failed to meet expectations. Ford is one of them, after the company decided to recall its Kuga hybrid model and halted sales of the model in September.

Ford said in a statement: "in accordance with our product roadmap and this year's production plan, we will abide by the new regulations even if we take into account the disruption to production caused by the COVID epidemic. So, like many car companies in Europe, we plan to join the open pool of carbon emissions from passenger cars. "

Ford added that it was ahead of its goals in the truck market and was willing to help companies facing difficulties in the market, which would follow similar rules.