German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday, October 6 that he wanted to lift the European Union of the prohibition planned in 2035 of the sale of thermal vehicles, due to the current difficulties of the automotive industry.
“I don’t want Germany to be one of the countries that support this bad prohibition,” said Friedrich Merz in an interview with the NTV channel.
The German automotive sector is in the APOI against Chinese competition in electricity, and BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen have publicly expressed their doubts about the objective established by Brussels. Last month, the European Commission announced that it was going to examine “as soon as possible” this prohibition.
The German Government divided
The current texts predict a review of this measure in 2026, but the industrialists pressed for an accelerated calendar, hoping to obtain developments against the great difficulties that their sector is happening.
Before a meeting on Thursday with representatives of the German automotive sector, the chancellor admitted that the issue was “in discussion” with the Social Democrats (SPD), members of the coalition.
The Minister of the Environment, member of the SPD, Carsten Schneider, “is not yet convinced” of the need to abandon this goal, said Merz, added that the government will depend on a common position before Thursday’s meeting.
German cars difficulties
The automotive industry of the first economy in Europe was affected by fierce competition in the Chinese market, low demand and transition to slower electric vehicles than expected.
At the beginning of the month, the Sports Car Porsche manufacturer, a VW subsidiary, announced to delay the deployment of its electric vehicles due to a demand too low.
Mr. Merz also considered that diesel engines were always necessary for truck manufacturing and that it would be a “serious error” for Germany not being able to conduct research in this area.
The German chancellor has also expressed hope that synthetic fuels can be developed in the coming years, allowing combustion engines to work “in an ecological way.”
“We must not prohibit, we should allow technologies, and that is my goal,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
