Italy’s industry minister has warned that the EU’s impending ban on petrol cars has created a “grave crisis” for the continent’s vehicle manufacturers.

Adolfo Urso, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, said hundreds of thousands of jobs would be put at risk unless Brussels reviews its target to ban combustion engines by 2035.

He will hold meetings in Brussels this week to demand an urgent review of the emissions rules, which he said should be delayed and eased.

“The road map of the Green Deal, as it was designed, has already demonstrated its contradictions with the collapse of the European electric vehicle market and the grave crisis of European carmakers,” he told the Financial Times. 

“The data speaks for itself. It’s already clear the road map . . . is not sustainable.”

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak last year pushed back Britain’s plans to ban petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.

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