Europe car makers re-elect Daimler’s CEO as president

LONDON (ICIS)–The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said on Monday it has re-elected Dieter Zetsche, CEO of German major Daimler, as its president.

ACEA said 2017 will be crucial for the European automobile industry as new EU “real driving conditions” laboratory tests come into force following the 2015 scandal involving German major Volkswagen after it was discovered the company had manipulated millions of vehicles’ software to pass laboratory tests.

“Our industry fully supports the need for improved emissions testing. However, we ask policy makers to reconsider the proposed time line giving us only a few months to comply,” said Zetsche, pictured.

“Because if there is one defining principle of our industry, it’s this: We are used to tackling technical challenges – provided reasonable lead-times are observed.”

ACEA’s president is elected for a year-long term, once renewable, from the CEOs, presidents or chairmen of its 15 member companies.

The automotive industry is a major global consumer of petrochemicals which contributes more than a third of the raw material costs of an average vehicle. ICIS tracks the movement of petrochemical raw material costs in auto production both globally and regionally with the weighted ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP).

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