German minister warns car manufacturers: ‘The future is electric’

Car manufacturers should not misinterpret the proposal, Klingbeil told Saturday’s edition of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper.

If companies believe they can continue to depend on diesel and gasoline vehicles for years to come, “their difficulties will be even greater in a few years,” he said.

The transition to electric mobility, he emphasized, must continue “at great speed”.

“The future of mobility is electric,” he added.

Klingbeil pointed to growing international competition, saying that his visits to Beijing and Shanghai showed him how much bigger China is. far ahead, even because of the strong government support for the transition. Therefore, German car manufacturers, he said, must catch up with them.

The minister described the Brussels proposal as a feasible compromise. He said it offers a more flexible path to climate neutrality, for example by allowing hybrid vehicles to stay on the market longer.

Pragmatic action, Klingbeil added, means that job protection and climate protection do not have to be mutually exclusive.

The European Commission earlier this week revised its plans for a strict phase-out of internal combustion engines. Under the updated proposal, new cars with internal combustion engines could still be registered after 2035.

Previously, negotiations from EU member states and the European Parliament agreed that new cars sold after 2035 should not emit CO2. This goal of completely reducing the emissions of this climate-harmful compound is now being relaxed.

In the future, the exemption will allow emissions to be reduced by up to 90% compared to 2021 levels, provided that the remaining emissions are compensated by measures such as the use of sustainably produced steel and more environmentally friendly fuels.