EU Mulls Five-Year Reprieve for Hybrid Cars From Combustion Ban

The European Union is weighing a five-year delay to its effective ban on the combustion engine after heavy pressure from some of the region’s biggest automotive countries.

The European Commission is due to unveil changes next week to its rules aiming to transition the automotive sector away from fossil fuels. Several governments and carmakers, from Italy to Poland, say the planned shift away from current technology is too aggressive and risks killing one of the region’s core industries.

The commission’s strategy is to allow a five-year extension of the use of the combustion engine in plug-in hybrids and range-extended vehicles. ...