“Booster China”

Remarks by China’s vice economy minister on banning combustion engines in the foreseeable future spell trouble for German carmakers like VW, Daimler and BMW, Max Hägler writes in an op-ed for Süddeutsche Zeitung. German carmakers are still struggling to prepare for a Chinese e-car quota, Hägler says. Politicians, industry and others are debating the future of the combustion engine as a court ruling on reducing air pollution threatens to ban certain car models from inner cities – but “the future of engines won’t be decided by German politicians and courts alone" but also in China, the article says. The car companies sell about a third of their production in the world's most populous country, and “e-cars will have to roll if that's what China decides,” he writes, adding that “the debate in Germany may become irrelevant”.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW article Frankfurt car show puts spotlight on German carmakers’ troubles and the factsheet The debate over an end to combustion engines in Germany.