The Commission’s “Not So Small Cars Initiative”

Last week, the European Commission presented its so-called Automotive Package, which it claims is designed to support the automotive sector in its transition to clean mobility. According to the Commission, the package establishes an ambitious yet pragmatic policy framework to ensure climate neutrality by 2050 and to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy, while at the same time offering manufacturers greater flexibility. It is also presented as a response to long-standing calls from EU industry to simplify regulatory requirements.

The Commission further argues that the package preserves a strong market signal in favour of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), while granting manufacturers additional leeway in meeting CO₂ reduction targets. It is explicitly framed as supporting vehicles and batteries manufactured within the European Union. In this context, the proposed corporate vehicles initiative is intended to accelerate the uptake of zero- and low-emission vehicles in company fleets.

One specific element of the package is the introduction, prior to 2035, of so-called “super-credits” for small, affordable electric cars produced in the European Union. These super-credits are meant to incentivise manufacturers to place a larger number of smaller electric car models on the market.

What the Commission has not communicated in its otherwise optimistic presentation of the Automotive Package is that, in its attempt to shore up the traditional car industry, it has effectively sidelined light electric vehicles (LEVs) in an unacceptable manner. At the beginning of 2025, LEVA-EU was invited by Commissioners Wopke Hoekstra and Jessika Roswall to contribute to the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry, launched under the authority of Ursula von der Leyen. In that context, LEVA-EU tabled a number of key policy demands aimed at unlocking the full potential of the light electric vehicle sector.

In the final Automotive Package, there is not the slightest trace of attention for light electric vehicles, which makes the Strategic Dialogue earlier this year look uncomfortably close to a greenwashing exercise. On the contrary, the unilateral focus on conventional passenger cars is such that it actively harms the LEV sector. The most striking illustration of this is the creation of a dedicated category for “small affordable electric cars made in the European Union”.

The issue becomes obvious when comparing the two following vehicles in this context. On the one hand, there is for instance the Jeep Avenger Electric, which is approximately 4.08 metres long and weighs between 1.52 and 1.57 tonnes. On the other hand, there is the Microlino, which measures just 2.52 metres in length and weighs between 0.49 and 0.53 tonnes.

Under the Commission’s proposal, the Jeep Avenger and similar vehicles are included in the new “small cars” category within the type-approval framework, primarily for the purpose of granting access to financial and fiscal incentives. At the same time, the Commission entirely ignores vehicles such as the Microlino or the Silence S04. Although these vehicles are demonstrably smaller, lighter, and more resource-efficient, they remain subject to largely unadapted technical legislation under the L-category. Furthermore, just because they are in the L-category, they are excluded from virtually all financial and fiscal incentives, precisely because public authorities do not recognise L-category vehicles as “small cars”.

In that light, one might reasonably suggest renaming the Small Cars Initiative as a “Less Bigger Cars Initiative”.

More importantly, the Commission should finally include the really small cars — microcars and other light electric vehicles — in its policy framework, in order to support solutions that already exist and are demonstrably sustainable. In the coming year, LEVA-EU will work closely with its members to examine how the Commission’s proposal can be amended so that genuinely small vehicles are properly taken into account.

Finally, the Commission praises the Automotive Package for its alleged respect for technological neutrality. In our view, the complete neglect of light electric vehicles runs directly counter to that principle. A genuinely credible Small Cars Initiative — one that also encompasses L-category vehicles — would go a long way towards correcting this fundamental inconsistency.