Some of the world’s largest automakers have opposed a European Union proposal to introduce more environmental restrictions on new cars.

The proposed legislation, announced in November 2022 – known as “Euro 7” – aims to reduce tailpipe emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles and mandate the amount of particulate matter from tires and brakes.

New cars would have to comply with the new regulations by mid-2025 – vans, trucks and buses from 2027.

Now the car industry has come forward to denounce the proposals during the consultation phase, with a number of key stakeholders warning that up to 300,000 jobs could be at risk if the legislation were passed.

“In its current form, the Euro 7 proposal (of the European Union) contains completely unrealistic time targets,” said a Volkswagen spokesman for the German Press Agency automobile week, The addition was “not feasible for the manufacturers in terms of time”.

A spokesman for BMW repeated the feelings and told automobile week: “Euro 6 and in particular Euro 6d are effective and already cover 95 percent of all statistically relevant driving situations”, which means that the air quality is measurably improved, according to the company.

“However, the draft of the (European Union) focuses precisely on such special cases – instead of reducing the limit values ​​​​for everyday traffic more, as the (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) proposes.”

“Compliance with Euro 7 would entail cost increases that could discourage customers from buying these new cars,” warned Renault CEO and President of the Association of European Car Manufacturers, Luca De Meo.

Mr De Meo says the cost of compliance would result in cars costing an average of €2000 (AU$3120) more to the customer – reducing new car sales by seven to 10 per cent.

“This could extend the life of the fleet: older cars with higher emissions stay on the roads longer.”