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The participants of the discussion were Dr. Barna Hanula, Associate Professor at the Audi Hungaria Faculty of Automotive Engineering of Széchenyi István University, Péter Simon, Technical Director of the 35-year-old Duna Autó Zrt. and Gábor Szűcs, journalist of electric cars.hu and head of the communication committee of the Hungarian Electromobility Association (ELMOB). The discussion was moderated by Dr. Balázs Zay, Senior Researcher at the Climate Policy Institute.

One of the points made during the discussion was that the punitive tariffs imposed by the European Union on cars made in China will not break the ground of Chinese brands, and that manufacturers have not yet reflected the tariffs in their prices. Leading-edge Chinese manufacturers and Tesla have already cut production costs to the point where they are now five years behind European manufacturers by a wide margin. This is what we need to catch up to keep the car industry, which accounts for 7% of Europe's GDP, afloat.

The 2035 target date for phasing out internal combustion engines is not necessarily a bad decision either, because it will spur manufacturers to improve, as they are also lagging far behind their competitors in various entertainment services. As regards the Volkswagen crisis, it was said that it was not possible to know how real it was and how much of it was a means of putting pressure on politicians.

The secret of the success of Chinese manufacturers was also revealed. The answer in short: they had nothing to lose. Chinese manufacturers have built the entire ecosystem of electric car production and other renewable technologies from the ground up, in line with the state party's determination. When European manufacturers were busy boosting diesel sales, and Volkswagen Group, for example, was struggling with the diesel stumbling block, various start-up companies in China were developing electric cars with state support.

It has been said that the biggest obstacle to the electric switchover is not the car industry, but the lack of infrastructure, especially fast chargers. To address this, they suggested a market-based approach rather than subsidies, just as period-based pricing of electricity is seen as essential.

Yet the biggest flaw in European regulation is seen as not encouraging the production of vehicles that meet customer needs. At present, manufacturers are interested in producing urban SUVs, which is why there is a lack of affordable small cars on the secondary used car market.

The experts agreed that the future of propulsion will be electric, but precisely because of the lack of infrastructure, they also foresee that some kind of performance-enhancing hybrid solution will be more likely to be adopted outside the city in the next decade.

The discussion with active audience participation is available on the Climate Policy Institute's YouTube channel.