Volkswagen: “Unfortunately, some former VW managers have put everything on the electric car card,” says Jens Spahn | EUROtoday

CDU government committee member Jens Spahn has blamed former VW bosses for the disaster within the German automotive business and reiterated the decision for the EU's combustion engine ban to be repealed. “Unfortunately, some former VW executives – perhaps as a distraction from their diesel scandal – have suddenly put everything on the electric car card. I dare to say that without one or two former VW bosses, Germany's car industry would not be in the misery it is currently in,” stated Spahn in an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ).

BMW was “significantly smarter”, relied on new combustion engines, hydrogen and electrical automobiles, and is on the verge of promoting extra electrical automobiles in Europe than Tesla, Spahn continued. “I continue to count on us in the EU to turn the corner and say goodbye to the disastrous electric car requirement. Hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on the combustion engine industry. The combustion engine ban was a wrong decision by the EU and we want to reverse it.”

Germany ought to make the most of its lead in combustion engines

The objective is local weather neutrality and never electromobility as an finish in itself, stated Spahn. German automotive producers have a 100-year lead in combustion engines. “Instead of worrying about the Chinese's lead in electric cars, we could first use our lead in diesel and gasoline engines. We can build combustion cars without a single screw from China, but we cannot manufacture electric cars without intermediate products from China.”