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Sixt SE

Sixt SE is a leading international provider of high-quality mobility services.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Katarina Barley (Member of the European Parliament)

7 Oct 2025 · Green transition

Response to Clean corporate vehicles

8 Sept 2025

There is no doubt that greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector must be reduced. However, ZEV mandates for fleet operators are an inappropriate measure, would cause great economic harm and impair the competitiveness of the EU severely. Furthermore, they would be unlawful. In detail: 1. According to the attached legal opinion prepared by the law firm Freshfields for Leaseurope ZEV mandates whether directly through a regulation or indirectly through targets set for Member States by means of a directive would be unlawful in both, substantive and formal terms. Iin substantive terms they would be disproportionate and thus infringe on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of car rental companies. The Commission itself has stated that most, if not all, Member States do not yet have adequate charging infrastructure. This will not change by 2030. It is disproportionate to force rentals companies to purchase BEVs that cannot be used for rental purposes. Formally, the measure would be unlawful, as the proposal invokes the wrong legal basis, and would violate the principles of subsidiarity and transparency. 2. The Commission ignores scientific findings of the International Energy Agency that has analyzed countries with a higher ZEV uptake (such as Norway and China): The essential prerequisite for a higher adoption ZEVs in these countries is an extensive public fast charging infrastructure. Contrary to the EU Commission's view, there is no chicken-and-egg problem here. There is clear evidence that demand for ZEVs follows charging infrastructure. Therefore, we call the Commission and Member States to focus on a massive expansion of charging infrastructure including affordable charging prices. Currently public charging is more expensive than refueling ICEs in many Member States. 3. Compared to ICE and PHEV, the purchase costs of ZEVs are higher and their residual values considerably lower. This means that the total costs of ownership for ZEVs are significantly higher. Mandates will therefore make rental and leasing prices considerably more expensive for consumers. In addition, public recharging is more expensive than refueling. 4. The EU Commission seems to ignore the electricity mix in the EU. According to the Commission's own figures, approximately one third of electricity is currently generated from fossil fuels, and in some Member States the figure is as high as 90%. 5. ZEV mandates for fleet operators will increase the EU's dependence on China in two ways: firstly, in terms of the supply of affordable ZEVs, and secondly, in terms of raw material dependence. In our opinion, this contradicts the general EU agenda to decrease these dependencies in the current geopolitical situation and thus would not be very prudent. 6. The lack of charging infrastructure significantly affects the demand for ZEV rental vehicles. Car rental companies will be forced to keep ICE vehicles in their fleets for very long periods. This means that the Commission's goal of promoting OEMs by increasing demand for ZEVs will not be achieved. The opposite will happen, demand for new vehicles will decline significantly. 7. Lacking charging infrastructure and grid capacity at key transport hubs (airports, railway stations) makes it impossible to operate fully electric fleets. It would take at least seven to five years to create appropriate power supply and grid capacities to cover charging demand at European mobility hubs like airports and train stations. 8. The Commission does not seem to be seriously interested in feedback on the impact that mandates would have. For it does not abide by its own better regulation principles. Instead of the usual twelve-week period for the provision of feedback, it set a very short deadline of six weeks. And to further increase the hurdles for in-depth feedback, the Commission placed this unusually short period into the summer holiday season during which everybody is on vacation. This is not what a fair procedure looks like.
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Meeting with Angelika Niebler (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Jul 2025 · Greening Corporate Fleet Initiative

Meeting with Jens Gieseke (Member of the European Parliament)

2 Apr 2025 · Austausch zu EU Politik

Meeting with Jan-Christoph Oetjen (Member of the European Parliament) and International Road Transport Union Permanent Delegation to the EU

27 Jan 2025 · General exchange on current road transport topics

Meeting with Manfred Weber (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Oct 2024 · Politischer Austausch

Meeting with Maurits-Jan Prinz (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton) and AMADEUS IT GROUP S.A. and

22 Sept 2022 · EU tourism policy and transition pathway