The Commission to The European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic And Social Committee And The Committee Of The Regions published the “Industrial Action Plan for the European automotive sector” in Brussels in 5.3.2025
Today, the sector accounts for €1 trillion in GDP, a third of private research and development investment in the EU and it provides direct and indirect employment to 13 million Europeans. Currently, the sector is undergoing a structural transformation of unprecedented speed and magnitude. The shift to clean mobility is accelerating. In 2024, already one out of five cars sold globally was electric.
While facing this transition, our automotive industry is also confronted with serious competitiveness challenges. It faces global supply chain risks and dependencies on raw materials and battery imports, a still too large reliance on fossil fuels, fierce competition for talent, cost gaps in key inputs, and an increasingly volatile geopolitical context. This is a pivotal moment for the European automotive industry - decisive action is needed, and the European Union (EU) is committed to support the sector in its transition
That is the purpose of this Action Plan, which builds on the Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal and – in recent weeks – a wide series of consultations, led by the President of the Commission and several Commission members, in which more than 100 organisations actively participated. It sets out concrete measures to help secure global competitiveness of the European automotive industry and maintain a strong European production base through action in five key areas: 1) innovation and digitalisation, 2) clean mobility, 3) competitiveness and supply chain resilience, 4) skills and social dimension, and 5) level playing field and business environment.
Important Points:
To boost market readiness and commercialisation of autonomous vehicles, the Commission will work with Member States to rapidly establish at least three large-scale cross-border testbeds, related regulatory sandboxes and European Automated Driving Corridors.
European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance will develop an EU-wide, open platform on Software-Defined Vehicles based on state-of-the-art open-source software building blocks, as well as interfaces, standards and tools.
Create a large-scale distributed pilot facility in 2026/2027: The facility will serve as a collaborative environment for industry for Software-Defined Vehicles and AI engineering and as a testbed for innovation in application layers.
The Commission will support the whole EU value chain of next generation batteries, including recycling, in close cooperation with partnerships in advanced manufacturing and advanced materials. For the years 2025 to 2027, the dedicated budget will be around EUR 350 million, as part of the overall Horizon Europe contribution for the automotive sector.
The Commission will, upon assessment of the effects of the Data Act, consider further action, including a legislative proposal on access to in-vehicle data and the possibility to establish a European Automotive Data Platform. In this context, it will also take into account cybersecurity considerations, including for remote access to data.
Proposal to amend CO2 emission standards for cars and vans, to allow an exceedance of the target in one or two years by overachievement in the other year(s) for the period 2025-2027.
In the coming months, the Commission will adopt a targeted amendment of the Eurovignette Directive to extend the deadline beyond 31 December 2025 to fully exempt zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles from road charges.
In the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan, to be adopted in the course of 2025, the Commission will make additional proposals for actions to remove barriers to scale-up the financing for recharging infrastructure.
The Commission also recommends that Member States presume that charging stations, their connection to the grid, the related grid itself and storage assets are in the overriding public interest in the context of permitting procedures.
The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) has proven to be an effective and efficient instrument to support recharging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure rollout. EUR 570 million will already be made available under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility to projects for the roll-out of alternative fuels infrastructure in 2025 and 2026 with a particular focus on heavyduty vehicles.
The Commission will work with Member States on a European Clean Transport Corridor initiative that will fast-track the deployment of heavy-duty vehicle charging hubs along key logistics corridors in the TEN-T as critical infrastructure, including in the related urban nodes and their multimodal freight terminals
To strengthen consumer confidence in second-hand battery electric vehicles, the Commission will assess Regulatory measure to ensure access to battery health information in the battery passport by Q3 2026. Regulatory measure to ensure access to battery repair and maintenance information in Q3 2025.