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Europe’s truck manufacturers have criticised the EU’s planned Euro 7 emissions standards, with Daimler Truck chief executive Karin Radström (pictured) calling the rules a costly distraction that would divert investment away from zero-emission vehicles and charging infrastructure.
“Euro 7 doesn’t fit,” Radström said at an ACEA briefing, where it was announced she would replace Christian Levin, president and CEO of Scania, as the incoming Chairperson of the ACEA Commercial Vehicle Board in 2026.
Radström said that existing Euro 6 rules already push diesel engines close to their technological limits and that the next step would add complexity with little environmental gain.
“Euro 6 already pushes the diesel engine to the limits in terms of cleanliness,” she said. “Now we have Euro 7 coming, and for most of us that’s a distraction.”
Radström warned that complying with the new standard would force manufacturers to spend large sums on technology they expect to phase out as the industry electrifies.
“It forces us to invest a couple of hundred million – for most manufacturers maybe around €500m - into a technology that we know over time will disappear,” she said.
Radström added that the environmental benefits would be limited compared with the cost. “With very limited environmental benefits,” Radström said, “it would be much better from a competitiveness perspective, but also from an environmental perspective, if we could instead use that money to invest into a faster ramp-up of zero-emission technologies.”
Her comments were echoed by Christian Levin, chief executive of Traton and Scania, who said the sector’s priorities were clear, suggesting that money not spent on diesel engine development would be better spent on charging infrastructure.
Truckmakers argue that investment is better directed towards accelerating electric truck uptake, where progress has been slow. Zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles account for less than 2% of new sales in Europe, largely because of high upfront costs and a lack of suitable public charging.
