The European automotive industry is entering a new phase. On Thursday 18 June, the European Parliament gave final approval to a regulation imposing circularity requirements across the entire life cycle of vehicles, from their design right through to their dismantling. The agreement reached by the Parliament and the Council at the end of 2025 was adopted with 437 votes in favour, 112 against and 20 abstentions.
The text aims to reduce the environmental footprint of a sector that remains one of the continent’s industrial mainstays. Every year, nearly 6.5 million vehicles reach the end of their life in the European Union (EU), whilst more than 285 million are still on European roads. The main change concerns the very design of the vehicles. Manufacturers will now have to make it easier to dismantle parts and components in order to encourage their reuse and recycling. The plastics used in new models will also have to incorporate an increasing proportion of recycled materials. This proportion will reach 15% within six years, and then 25% after ten years.
Some of these materials will have to come directly from end-of-life vehicles, thereby creating a genuine recycling loop within the sector. The regulation also strengthens manufacturers’ obligations regarding the end of a vehicle’s life. Three years after the regulation comes into force, they will be required to fund the collection and treatment of end-of-life vehicles throughout the EU. This measure shifts more responsibility onto manufacturers and could accelerate the development of a circular economy within the sector.
Combating illegal networks
Another notable change is that exports of vehicles declared to be non-roadworthy will be banned five years after the regulation comes into force. Brussels aims in this way to combat illegal scrapping networks and reduce the phenomenon of “missing vehicles”, which currently evade official processing channels.
Sales of second-hand vehicles will also be subject to stricter regulations. Businesses will be required to check that a vehicle is not classified as a write-off or that it has a valid roadworthiness test certificate before reselling it. Transactions between private individuals, however, will remain subject to fewer requirements.
For the text’s co-rapporteurs, Jens Gieseke and Paulius Saudargas, these new rules represent “an important step towards a circular economy”, whilst setting targets deemed realistic for the sector. Following Parliament’s approval, the regulation must still receive formal approval from the Council before it enters into force. It will come into effect two years later.
