Special regulation in CO2 law: Car importers warn against expensive “Swiss polish”

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Exactly 22,005 new registrations in November: This represents the fifteenth consecutive monthly increase in the Swiss new car market. Compared to the same month last year, the growth rate was 2.8 percent, or 601 vehicles. 225,266 new cars were launched in the first eleven months of 2023; This number is 12 percent more than in the same period last year and therefore almost as many as in the whole of 2022 (225,934). However, the 2023 car year will fall well short of the long-held magic target of 300,000 new cars; According to the Swiss Automobile Importers Association, the main reason for this situation will probably be the slowdown in the economy and increasing living costs.

Increasing demand for 2024

Although restrictions on the Swiss car market in 2022 are primarily due to difficulties in the delivery of microchips and other supplier products, as well as general difficulties in parts and vehicle logistics, supply chains have become increasingly stable since the beginning of this year. Since then, delivery times for new vehicles have normalized accordingly. However, market volume is still well below pre-pandemic levels.

“Customer reluctance is certainly also due to rising rents, health insurance premiums and other living costs,” says Christoph Wolnik, Auto Switzerland media spokesman. “For next year, our members expect demand to continue to improve and new registration numbers to be higher than this year.” Wolnik said that the new models to be announced for 2024 will also increase the market volume.

dispute in CO₂

At the same time, the Swiss automobile industry is again facing new problems. in CO₂By order of the National Council’s Environment Commission, the law, which foresees the implementation of annually reduced average target values ​​for new passenger cars from 2025, will go far beyond European regulation with a fixed emissions target until 2029 (inclusive).

For Auto Switzerland President Peter Grünenfelder (56), this will once again be an economically expensive Swiss special arrangement. So for him it is clear: “The new National Council must under no circumstances accept this proposal of its commission for an expensive finish in Switzerland during the winter season. The cost-increasing consequences for the economy and for private households and therefore consumers will be enormous. At the same time, politicians in the new law need to re-improve rather than worsen the framework conditions for electromobility, as has recently been the case with the introduction of a car tax from 2024 or rising electricity prices in the state-dominated energy sector. Sunday. CO₂-Grünenfelder demands that the regulations for new vehicles should be adapted in line with European regulations and that expensive Swiss solutions should not be applied.

Source: Blick