The European Parliament has adopted proposals on a circular economy for motor vehicles. Core elements include quotas for recycled materials in new cars, extended producer responsibility for the collection and treatment of end-of-life vehicles, and stricter rules for the export of vehicles at the end of their life. The EU’s stated goal is to reduce environmental impacts and strengthen the circular economy in the automotive sector.
Markus Buchheit, MEP of the ESN Group, stated:
“No to centrally planned quotas that needlessly make cars more expensive and put jobs at risk. Rigid recycling quotas, bureaucracy, and export bans drive up prices, threaten jobs, and turn the car into a luxury good for many. We stand for a genuine circular economy through innovation rather than ideology—for affordable mobility, competitiveness, and technological neutrality.
“Our automobile manufacturers are already suffocating under a thicket of requirements, documentation duties, and ever-tightening emissions standards. This micromanagement consumes capital and innovative strength—and makes mobility ever more expensive for citizens. Brussels must stop telling engineers how to build cars.”
