Von der Leyen proposes more relaxed CO2 target compliance for new cars | Euractiv

"They don't sell" is a bit of a tired outlook - they do sell and they would sell even better if there was a bit more push behind the program again. The right-wing idiots that pretend they're doing the industry a favor here are actually working to destroy the industry as fast as possible, so the Captains of the Industry can wring a single-digit number of positive quarterly results in the short term.

There are very rational reasons why EVs make a lot of sense, including for national security:

• [Much] of European brands' sales are in China[ (e.g. 30% in the case of VW)] and the Chinese leadership are not going to stop the pro-EV course, because it's the best way to ensure local prosperity. Hence, the European companies need to be focused on beating the Chinese at EVs. Losing the Chinese market means massively decreasing economies of scale and ultimately losing all other foreign markets as well.
• Besides a few outliers like the UK and Norway, Europe is poor in fossil energy and it won't reach fossil autarky. However, you can easily run EVs (primarily) on European solar/wind energy. This would massively decrease Russian/US/Saudi oil/gas imports and massive decrease wealth transfers to these countries.
• EVs are also way more energy-efficient, meaning you can run on less energy overall.
• There are massive public health benefits associated with reduced emissions.
• I haven't mentioned climate change, and granted, there are more effective ways to combat that, chiefly reducing the number of cars and increasing the availability of public transit. But given the current (insane) predicament that economies need to grow forever, EVs are a way forward.