The foreseeable move away from the European combustion engine phase-out in 2035 is causing strong criticism among economists. It neither solves the manufacturers’ current problems nor secures industrial jobs Germany, if only longer Cars with petrol or diesel engines will be newly registered, said the chairwoman of the economists, the Munich economist Monika Schnitzer (64), to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “Would these jobs be saved if we postponed the phase-out of combustion engines now? I’m afraid the opposite is the case.”
Probably on Tuesday The plans are to be presented in Brussels, which cars will still be available in the future EU can be approved. It has been foreseeable for months that the complete ban on combustion engines will be abolished, and the federal government has also campaigned for this. Schnitzer is now extremely skeptical that the industry is receiving contradictory signals, especially since many companies have long since invested.
“So when it is now said that the Germans have a big advantage over the competition when it comes to combustion engines, I can only say: perhaps in the short term,” said Schnitzer. “But today no one uses a push-button cell phone anymore.”
“I think this is all a symbolic debate”
The economists Thomas Puls (51) from the employer-oriented Institute of German Economics (IW), Sebastian Dullien from the trade union-affiliated IMK and Anita Wölfl from the Munich Ifo Institute also expressed skepticism. “I think this is all a symbolic debate: electric cars and plug-in hybrids will be the better product for the vast majority of applications by 2035 anyway,” said Puls.
The problem for German manufacturers is less the end of the combustion engine and more the technical backlog, for example in battery cells, added Dullien. “That’s why you can ask yourself what interests the managers in the car companies are pursuing: Do they want to make the highest possible profits in the short term or do they work in the long-term interests of the industry and the employees?”
Wölfl criticized that companies have been pursuing a two-pronged strategy between electric and combustion vehicles for too long. “But it’s not worth it in the long run.” Most manufacturers have therefore stopped investing in petrol and diesel engines. “So where should new combustion engine models suddenly come from in the next few years?”