Automotive funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) is crucial to the future of low carbon technology development and should not be stalled because of problems with credit access, said the Luxembourg-based body.
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Speaking to just-auto today (12 July) at the signing of a GBP450m (US$676m) loan from the bank for Ford of Britain to develop low carbon engines backed by a UK government loan guarantee of GBP360m, EIB vice president Simon Brooks said the loans were a key component of future technology.
“The financial crisis will be with us for a short time, but the problems of climate change will be with us for a long time and we can’t afford to sit back and do nothing,” he said.
“Ford – to its credit – is not doing nothing. The EIB at the outset of the financial crisis, with the encouragement of the finance minsters of the member states, agreed we should make sure the research and development projects [aimed] at reducing emissions did not get stuck.”
Brooks acknowledged the work of the EIB went sometimes unsung, but insisted awareness of his organisation was now growing, with some high profile automotive companies such as Saab, benefiting from the bank’s assistance.
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By GlobalData“We have become more known in the UK during the past two to three years, partly because of the lending we have made to European companies,” he said. “People are more aware now of the work we do supporting big projects.”
Brooks firmly batted back however, questions as to what the German government would do concerning Ford’s application for EUR160m in loan guarantees for a EUR200m loan from the EIB.
The money is intended to develop Ford’s EcoBoost engine made at its Cologne plant but the EIB vice president would not be drawn on the subject.
