XPeng to benefit from Porsche EU CO₂ regulatory credits as the German sports-car company exits VW Group pool
- Matthias Schmidt
- Aug 11
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 14
According to an official EU filing dated 5th August, 2026, Porsche AG has exited the Volkswagen Group CO2 pool, which enabled its higher average CO2 emissions from its new car registrations to be averaged across all Volkswagen Group brands in order to meet EU regulatory fleet emission targets.
The German sports-car company will now form an open-pool with XPeng during 2026 and 2027.
Volkswagen Group which owns a 5% equity stake in the Chinese company XPeng, which is currently expanding its market presence across Europe with just under 20,000 units delivered across Western Europe during the opening 6 months of the year accoridng to the Schmidt Automotive Research database, and is set to surpass Polestar as the lead Chinese premium OEM across the region later this year as deliveries of its L03 volume model arrives is expected to approach 50,000 regional deliveries this year will benefit from a regulatory credit windfall subject to the deal.
Volkswagen Group failed to achieve the 93.6g/km EU CO2 fleet emission average across the EU during 2025, recording an average of 100g/km according to the company, resulting in an over-compliance level required during 2026 and 2027 to return to a realistic trajectory of achieving the three-year flexibility average that was introduced during 2025.
Meanwhile Porsche inflated that value given its own 2025 CO2 levels were 118.6g/km across the scope of the EU 27 member states plus Norway and Iceland according to European Environment Agency data. That signals a route to compliance in 2026 and 2027 without the Stuttgart-based manufacturer, especially given that Volkswagen, Škoda and Cupra introduce four new Spanish-manufactured B-segment BEV models from the second half of 2026 which begin at below €25,000 thanks to the implementation of LFP battery chemistry.
Porsche would have remained a liability as it pivots back its strategy, pursuing a higher ICE proportion of its sales as its BEV models see volumes struggle in 2026, down by approaching 30% y/y across Western Europe according to Schmidt Automotive Research monthly data, making up 30% of its regional new volumes this year, down from almost 40% during the same period last year.
The regulatory-credit burden on Porsche's 2026 financial results in 2026 and 2027 will depend on how successful its EV rollout is.
However, the return of a Macan ICE variant, which has not been available for the past two years, following a cybersecurity regulatory-type approval update in 2024, is unlikely to help improve its trajectory moving forward.
This is just a small extract from one of our full studies which are available below. To discover more about out studies just contact us
Scope: Western Europe's 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement, plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK – accounting for 90% of the enlarged European region.
Comments