The long-awaited light-duty vehicle emission rules will hit light-duty vehicle makers working in EU member countries on January 1. Vehicle manufacturers will have to sell many more hybrid and electric vehicles or pay costly fines, a situation similar to China’s rules. For automakers with product lineups with few EV offerings, they’ll need to sell lots of conventional cars and trucks, and use the profits to pay the fines. Industry analysts expect plug-in hybrid, battery electric vehicle, and hybrid vehicle sales to soar in the near future. Earlier this year, the EU approved carbon emissions targets for 2030 that will be 37.5 percent lower than the 2020-21 fleet limit of 95 grams per km. The auto industry had lobbied for a more reasonable reduction target of 20 percent, arguing that they needed more time to prepare and to avoid taking huge financial hits. Automakers and their supplier partners argued that […]