Leaseurope’s initial reaction to European Commission’s Greening of Corporate Fleets regulatory proposal: “the wrong instrument for the wrong target.”

Brussels, 16 December 2025

Leaseurope’s initial reaction to the European Commission’s Greening of Corporate Fleets regulatory proposal: “the wrong instrument for the wrong target.”

Leaseurope needs to study the full detail of today’s Commission proposal once it is released. We fundamentally believe that binding National Targets for the 27 EU Member States are the wrong instrument to tackle what companies most need to drive higher Zero and Low Emission Vehicle uptake: incentive frameworks, adapted and accelerated enabling conditions for corporate locations and uses cases, and support to tackle the EV Residual Value crisis for used EVs across Europe.

Leaseurope represents the leasing and vehicle rental industries who last year accounted for more than one in every two vehicles sold on the European market. Its member companies provide a substantial portion of the corporate vehicles, including for many SMEs, that are an intrinsic part of the European economy, enabling the everyday movement of people, goods and services across the continent. Leaseurope members have been the tip of the European spear for corporate battery electric vehicle (BEV) uptake, accounting for 60% of all newly registered BEVs over the last 3 years.

Director General, Richard Knubben commented:

“Leaseurope members have been the driving force behind BEV uptake in corporate fleets in Europe. Despite overwhelming evidence from the fastest EU BEV uptake markets which all have a system of incentives allied to sustained investment in the enabling conditions, the Commission has proposed binding National Targets for vehicle uptake. We believe this is the wrong instrument for the wrong target.

We understand the EC’s intention is to only target Europe’s largest companies. What in fact this draft Regulation does is limiting financing options for every single company, large and small, as well as for individuals who would normally find support from leasing and rental companies.

At the same time, these targets do nothing to incentivise BEV uptake, do not address the enabling conditions and are likely to make a difficult situation worse for the manufacturers.”

The main obstacles for the acceleration of the corporate uptake of BEVs across the EU27 is a combination of managing the fleet Total Cost of Ownership, the lack of sufficient charging infrastructure suitable to all corporate use cases, for passenger and light commercial vehicles throughout Europe, and consequently a growing but still too slow demand from consumers. This is compounded by grid capacity and infrastructure permitting issues, and the difficulty of bringing sufficient power to company locations, especially for larger-scale fleet deployments. The Commission proposes to set targets based on GDP/Capita ratios, a variable that completely ignores these factors.

Mr Knubben added: “We fully support the faster uptake of BEVs across all EU27 markets. We urge the co-legislators to adopt a more balanced and effective approach, focused on what will really drive faster uptake: accelerating the enabling conditions for companies, including developing charging infrastructure, investing in improved grid capacity, and supporting the market for second-hand ZEVs, which has been blind spot for the policymakers for many years now.”