The federal government has rejected the auto industry’s demands for relief from the CO2 fleet targets for the coming year. With the previous target value levels, the manufacturers only closed their compliance gap in the target year and not ahead of time, said a spokesman for the responsible Federal Environment Ministry when asked by “Welt am Sonntag”. The vast majority of manufacturers have largely succeeded in closing the gaps, although they have sometimes done so in the past were bigger than now. “We trust that the German automotive industry will once again demonstrate its reliability and technological competence and achieve the target values,” the spokesman continued. The Volkswagen Group had called for easing of the fleet limits. These values should fall from the current average of 115 grams of CO2 per kilometer to 94 grams. “In addition to setting ambitious goals, the framework conditions must also be created so that they can be realized,” commented the group when asked by the newspaper. The staggered CO2 targets would have to be reviewed and realistically adjusted. “Openness to technology” should solve problems. The federal government’s demand is also met with criticism in the EU Parliament. “We are for openness to technology. “Vehicles that only run on climate-neutral fuels such as e-fuels must remain permitted even after 2035,” said CDU MEP Peter Liese to “Welt am Sonntag”. VW’s difficulties must be taken very seriously. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr also emphasized the importance of “technological openness”. You can just see how dramatic the situation can become for a large automobile manufacturer “if a company is regulated to death by European regulations,” said Dürr to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. “This kind of patronizing, know-it-all industrial policy must be over.” Volkswagen is not being helped by paying subsidies that are financed by taxes, “but by finally ending the European wrong path of technologically planned economy.” Fleet regulation of CO2 emissions should be abolished, as should the phase-out of combustion engines. “The European planned economy has finally failed. All technologies must have the same opportunities.”Against e-car premiumWith regard to electric cars, Dürr rejected calls for the reintroduction of a state purchase premium. “I think that’s absurd, for the following reason: When we abolished the electric car premium, we noticed that prices fell.” That’s an exciting observation because the market has regulated itself. ” Seriously believing that electric cars could be pushed into the market through subsidies and that this is a sustainable strategy has always been crazy.”More on the topicIn the crisis at Volkswagen, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) was in favor of reintroducing an electric car. Car purchase bonus was announced. This new bonus should not apply to the US car manufacturer Tesla or the Chinese manufacturer BYD, but to vehicles manufactured in Germany.
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