VW’s Skoda would cut 3,000 jobs if ‘Euro 7’ implemented in current form

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czech carmaker Skoda would have to cut 3,000 jobs and axe some models if the European Union’s “Euro 7” emissions scheme is implemented in its current form, a Skoda board member warned in a TV debate on Sunday.

The proposed Euro 7 law, which EU countries and lawmakers will start negotiating this year, would tighten limits on the emission by cars of health-harming pollutants, including nitrogen oxides.

The EU has said the health benefits of the measure would far outweigh the costs, but some car makers have warned it would impose unfeasibly expensive development costs. Daimler Trucks chief Martin Daum for instance said on March 10 it would cost the industry “billions”.

“If (Euro 7) is approved in this shape, it would mean for Skoda Auto to close one plant, because we would stop producing the smaller models – Fabia, Scala, Kamiq – that means 3,000 jobs (would be) hit at least,” Martin Jahn, a board member of Skoda, which is part of Volkswagen, said in a televised debate.

Overall, more than 10,000 jobs would be at risk in the Czech Republic, including at Skoda’s suppliers, Jahn said.

The three smaller models represented nearly a third of Skoda’s deliveries to customers in 2022.

Transport ministers from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia met on Monday to discuss their efforts to change the Euro 7 proposal.

(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by David Holmes)