"As the battle lines harden amid Germany's intensifying pressure on the European Commission to scrap the 2035 ban on production of new petrol and diesel cars, two Swedish car companies, Volvo and Polestar, are leading the campaign to persuade Brussels to stick to the date. They argue such a move is a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks in the German car industry, adding that it will not just prolong take up of electric vehicles but inadvertently hand the advantage to China."
"The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has called on the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to soften the 2035 cutoff date. He has asked her to permit the manufacture of new hybrid and highly efficient combustion engine cars beyond 2035 as consumers are still hesitant to buy EVs. We're sending the right signal to the commission with this letter, Merz said, adding that the German government wanted to protect the climate in a technology-neutral way."
Volvo and Polestar insist maintaining the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars is essential to sustain electric vehicle adoption and European automotive competitiveness. They warn that delaying the ban would prolong combustion-vehicle uptake and cede advantage to China. German chancellor Friedrich Merz seeks to soften the cutoff to allow hybrids and highly efficient combustion engines because consumers remain hesitant to buy EVs. German industry leaders are lobbying the European Commission and call for a technology-neutral approach to climate policy. Polestar reports being excluded from EU strategic dialogue, while Volvo's CEO rejects slowing the transition and compares resistance to past safety rollbacks.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]