News Digest Item
04 Dec 2017

Chief car lobbyist Wissman: Those who fight diesel today will fight e-car tomorrow

ADAC Motorwelt / Focus Online

Germany’s leading lobbyist for the car industry, Matthias Wissmann, says that those opponents of the use of cars who today fight for the condemnation of diesel cars in the wake of the emissions fraud scandal will eventually turn against electric cars as their ultimate goal is to “bring down an entire industry”. In an interview with industry magazine ADAC Motorwelt published on Focus Online, Wissmann, who heads the car industry association VDA, says his aim is to “safeguard individual mobility”, and to bring it into a “reasonable balance” with economic viability and climate protection. Wissmann says the EU target to reduce CO2 emissions from cars by 30 percent by 2030 is “more than challenging”, and could only be achieved if all engine technologies, including diesel, gasoline, natural gas, hybrid, fuel cells, and electric cars are brought into play.

Read the interview in German here

See the CLEW factsheet The debate over an end to combustion engines in Germany for background.

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