Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation, has told an industry seminar in Brussels today that jobs, investment and competitiveness in the European car industry could be threatened by the European Commission's approach towards vehicle electrification.

"Volvo Car Corporation urges the EU to coordinate incentives whilst supporting research and development. The European automotive industry risks losing the present technological leadership if this doesn't happen," said Stefan Jacoby. He added: "In the long-term, this jeopardises our industry's competitiveness and European jobs." Volvo Car Corporation also raises concerns about the viability of the European Commission's White Paper on Transport, which states that greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector will have to be cut by at least 60 percent by 2050 to achieve the EU's climate change goals. The paper also calls for the use of conventionally fuelled cars in cities to be halved by 2030 and then completely phased out by 2050.

"European car manufacturers are facing a very difficult challenge when CO2 legislation requiring electrified cars are implemented without initiatives that make these cars affordable for a growing number of consumers," said Stefan Jacoby.

In 2011 fewer than 50,000 battery electric vehicles were sold in the world, equivalent to a market share of about 0.1 percent. The figure suggests that the car market will continue to be dominated by traditional combustion-engine models for the foreseeable future.

"It is far too early to dismiss the conventional diesel and petrol power trains. We continuously improve their efficiency. In the last two years, Volvo has brought CO2 emissions from our diesel and petrol model ranges down by 13 percent," said Stefan Jacoby.