A huge emissions asteroid is hurtling towards the internal combustion engine that could spell early doom for petrol, diesel and related hybridised engines. The European Union’s Euro 7 emissions standards will come into force in 2025. Auto manufacturers believe that Euro 7 is so diagnostically tough to meet that it could end the production of petrol and diesel engines before the agreed termination deadline. Auto manufactures are united in the continuation of petrol and diesel engines until they are banned outright in 2040. However, the EU’s Euro 7 regulations are so complex and mind-bendingly tough to implement that it would make building an ICE engine unprofitable.

So it is obvious the EU is trying to legislate the early demise of ICE engines. And it is a sneaky backdoor method, but it is politics 101. It is impossible to have any sympathy for auto manufacturers, especially in Europe. We know that the German manufactures colluded and cheated emissions legislation for decades, therefore, causing pollution on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, they promoted the virtues of emissions-friendly motoring.

If the EU is introducing an early ban through legislation, then the auto manufacturers have only themselves to blame. They (Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota) caused the dieselgate crater and the final extinction event for the petrol and diesel engine era will be the Euro 7 asteroid.