Industry and workers call for urgent action to safeguard Europe’s commercial vehicle sector

The signatories acknowledge that while the European commercial vehicle industry holds leading market and technology positions globally, that leadership is far from guaranteed. Intensifying competition from regions operating under different cost structures, regulatory frameworks, and coordinated industrial strategies is placing unprecedented pressure on manufacturers, suppliers, and workers. The industry remains fully committed to Europe’s climate ambitions, as evidenced by the wide range of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and buses already on the market. However, their uptake remains constrained by the slow rollout of dedicated public and depot charging infrastructure, insufficient hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and the lack of robust business cases for many transport operators who want to invest in the new powertrain vehicles.

• First, an advance of the review of the CO2 regulation for heavy-duty vehicles to assess the coherence between its ambition level and actual market conditions as the current framework risks disproportionately increasing costs and accelerating deindustrialisation without delivering a faster transition.
• Second, accelerated deployment of charging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure with binding milestones at EU and Member State level, reinforced through the upcoming AFIR revision, supportive policies and investment incentive schemes to close the total cost of ownership gap for fleet operators.
• Third, a coherent European industrial strategy for the commercial road transport sector in which competitiveness, decarbonisation, and high-quality employment are pursued together.

Corporate leaders and workforce representatives from Europe’s truck and bus manufacturers have jointly written to the European Commission to raise the alarm over deteriorating competitiveness in the commercial vehicle sector, warning that without urgent and coordinated action, Europe risks losing production capacity, innovation capability, and industrial jobs.