German carmakers headed for "disaster" – opinion

German car manufacturers are working to sell ever more diesel vehicles in a bid to comply with stricter EU CO₂ emission limits, risking “disaster”, writes Frank-Thomas Wenzel in an opinion piece in Frankfurter Rundschau. Diesel-fuelled cars produce less carbon pollution than their gas-powered counterparts but, in the wake of the diesel emissions cheating scandal, the share of diesel vehicles in both Germany and the EU has sunk, according to Wenzel. To avoid the levy of financial penalties, German automakers are betting heavily on a diesel “renaissance”, but with the expiration of various favourable financing programmes looming, the success of the companies’ strategy is far from certain, Wenzel writes.

For background, read the factsheet “Dieselgate” – a timeline of Germany’s car emissions fraud scandal and the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.