Skoda says it will need to close plant if Euro 7 proposal isn't revised

PRAGUE - Skoda would have to close a plant and ax models if the European Union's Euro 7 emissions scheme is implemented in its current form, a Skoda board member said.

"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 -- the Fabia, Scala, Kamiq -- that means 3,000 jobs [would be] hit at least," Martin Jahn, who is head of sales and marketing at Skoda, which is part of Volkswagen Group, said Sunday in a televised debate.

The Czech automaker builds the three models at its plant Mlada Boleslav.

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

The EU has said the health benefits of the measure would far outweigh the costs, but some automakers 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."

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 last Monday to discuss their efforts to change the Euro 7 proposal.