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Volkswagen has paid a hefty fine of 31.3 billion euros (245 billion yuan) so far this year after the emissions cheating scandal was revealed in 2015, and Volkswagen, which had expected to achieve its first electric car on the market, will bid farewell to the fine. However, as the COVID-19 epidemic spreads widely in Europe, Volkswagen will not only become the most affected carmaker, but will also face persistent high emission fines for failing to deliver new cars as expected.

Volkswagen has faced numerous regulatory investigations and lawsuits for four and a half years since it was found to have concealed excessive emissions from diesel engines in 2015. Until 2020, the fines faced by Volkswagen Group still can not be stopped, so that the cumulative losses continue to rise.

In previous years, the European region has already proposed relevant regulations in order to achieve low-carbon travel as soon as possible, and plans to implement what is known as the most stringent carbon emission regulations in the history of the European Union from January 1, 2020. According to the regulations, 95 per cent of new cars sold by car companies in Europe are required to meet 95g/km emission control targets; by 2021, the average CO2 emissions of all new cars will be lower than 95g/km.

In order to resolve the "emission gate" incident as soon as possible, and the huge compensation brought about by the incident, Volkswagen Group has already built the first all-electric model MEB platform as planned, and the first all-electric model ID3 is scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of this year. As long as its electric vehicles are put into large scale, Volkswagen will be able to reduce the fine for emissions.

However, a sudden COVID-19 epidemic disrupted the carmaker's plans and halted production across Europe. The shutdown means that Volkswagen will not be able to launch its first pure electric ID3 as scheduled, which makes it difficult for Volkswagen to meet EU emissions targets.

To this end, Volkswagen Group Supervisor, Lower Saxony economy Minister Bernd Althusmann said that the epidemic has seriously affected the entire German automobile industry, not only Volkswagen, but also other car companies will not be able to meet the EU 2020 emission target this year, so he called on the European Union to adjust this year's carbon dioxide reduction target and abolish the heavy fines on the automobile industry.

"I hope the EU can see clearly where the problem lies," he said. "if we do not take into account the epidemic factors and impose emission reduction targets, it will not only have a greater impact on the auto industry as a whole, but also put more employees at risk of losing their jobs."

In the face of the epidemic, Volkswagen has laid off 1500 workers at its assembly plant in Tennessee since April 11 to cope with the impact of the spreading novel coronavirus epidemic. According to Dr. Deiss, CEO of Volkswagen Group, Volkswagen Group has suspended all sales except China due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and has to pay a fixed cost of 2 billion euros (15.72 billion yuan) per week. If the epidemic continues to worsen, Volkswagen Group will also have to take structural measures, including the possibility of layoffs.

After all, Volkswagen, which has the largest number of assembly plants in Europe, has a total of 124 factories and 617000 employees. Among them, there are 72 factories in Europe, accounting for more than half of all factories. Since early April, Volkswagen has suspended production at factories around the world except in China, meaning the Volkswagen Group will be the one most affected by the epidemic.

In addition, PA Consulting, a market consultancy, has predicted that 13 major European car companies will fail to meet EU emissions targets and will share a fine of 14.5 billion euros (111.96 billion yuan), of which Volkswagen will be the most fined, paying a price of about 4.5 billion euros (34.746 billion yuan).

Therefore, in the face of the impact of the current epidemic, there are foreign media reports that German and European car companies have begun to lobby the European Union to relax this year's carbon dioxide emission target.

Of course, in the face of the various effects of the epidemic, if the automobile industry cannot even solve its own survival problems, and blindly deal with government regulations, it will undoubtedly need more funds to face it, which will also have a great impact on the entire automobile industry and the local government economy.

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