Although Europe is attracting attention for its policy to abolish engines by 2035, BEV sales have not grown as much as initially expected, and a review of the policy is inevitable. Some OEMs may not even meet their 2025 CO2 emission targets, and some estimate that the total amount of fines could be as high as 20 billion euros.

The future direction of powertrain development was also discussed at the Aachen Colloquium held in Germany in early October 2024. While European OEMs continue to adhere to the BEV path, they are also increasing their efforts in eFuel, biofuels, and hydrogen to complement this path. Although they are not actively pursuing a multi-pass strategy like the Japanese OEMs, they are being forced to do so in the face of sluggish BEV sales.

In Aachen, SDV development and the use of AI in the automotive industry were also discussed.