PSA chief Carlos Tavares has said governments and legislators need to stop imposing unrealistic emissions targets on carmakers – they should leave it to the experts to reduce CO2 emissions.
Speaking in Paris at the global launch of PSA's mobility strategy, Tavares said: "I estimate there are around 250,000 highly qualified engineers globally in the automotive industry, if you tell them all to go electric they will – but why not leverage the scientific power of those 250,000 engineers to develop innovative and alternative solutions?
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
"As it is, it is the governments who are making the scientific decisions on what is the best technology."
If the legislators decide that electric is the way forward, Tavares is concerned they are not seeing the bigger picture. In Western Europe, vehicles account for 13% of CO2 emissions and 7% worldwide, he said.
"Energy generation accounts for 31% and industry more than 20%. Zero emission from electric cars is not a given, you have to look at how the energy is produced, you have to look at the production process and you have to look at recycling, particularly batteries.
"The whole ecosystem has to be sustainable otherwise you miss the point."
Mobility as a service
Tavares also said that it is important to not lose sight of what the customer wants as companies explore 'mobility as a service'. He also noted that a recovered PSA is now more 'agile'
"We must not a lose sight of what the customer wants: comfort, convenience and safety."
"We are very serious about mobility as a service," he said, "but we must not a lose sight of what the customer wants: comfort, convenience and safety. We are committed to protecting individual freedom of mobility by creating all sorts of offers.
"The automotive industry is changing," he added, "and we want to be part of the disruption. 5G technology will open up new areas and the data flow will be a business enabler. Having come back from a near death experience a few years ago, PSA is now much more mentally agile with a new team of young leaders ready to surf the wave of change form vehicle ownership to usage."
How the mobility strategy will pan out over the next few years is not an answer Tavares readily has. "I don't know if it will work," he said candidly, "but we are approaching it with sincerity."
