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Production of plug-in hybrid sports cars at BMW in Saxony: the auto industry is rebelling against the Euro 7 plans
Photo:
Jan Woitas / DPA
The dispute over the new Euro 7 emissions standard is coming to a head.
After experts had suggested significantly stricter values, proponents of conventional drives attacked the plans massively.
In this debate, BMW works council chairman Manfred Schoch has now expressed himself in drastic terms - and warned against the loss of many jobs.
In the new regulations he sees an EU-wide de facto ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2025. “We will experience unemployment like we have never had before.
If the politicians pull the lever here, it will be dark in Germany, «said Schoch on Thursday evening in Munich at a forum of the car club Mobil in Germany.
He is afraid that Berlin and Brussels will only see the issue of climate.
The consequences for jobs, prosperity and individual mobility would be ignored.
"I warn politicians to approach the issue of climate one-dimensionally and to gamble with prosperity in Germany."
Experts consider goals to be achievable
According to Schoch, the regulations could mean the end for many suppliers.
"That would be a buzz in terms of jobs that Germany has never seen before," he said.
"What I experience in Brussels is just forbid, forbid, forbid," criticized Schoch.
Other experts, however, consider a more stringent new emission standard to be technically feasible, and measurement data had also shown that lower nitrogen oxide values can be achieved.
The President of the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, rejected the EU proposals as unrealistic.
"I have the impression that our concerns are shared by the federal government," said Müller.
And: Not everyone can buy a new electric car right away, and there is no charging infrastructure.
The vehement criticism of the auto industry apparently goes too far even for the ADAC automobile club.
"We are currently experiencing a heated discussion that is not appropriate to the matter and harms the goal," said ADAC technology president Karsten Schulze this week of the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung".
"Doomsday scenarios are also lined up here, conjuring up the death of the diesel and gasoline engine before a specific draft ordinance is even available."
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