In Germany’s Car Capital, the Unthinkable: A Ban on Cars
- 6 years ago
In Germany’s Car Capital, the Unthinkable: A Ban on Cars
“It threatens to produce a regulatory hodgepodge in Germany, which is unsettling for millions of motorists.”
The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, whose members include car-parts makers and other companies in the automotive supply chain, said in a statement
that “driving bans for diesel vehicles are the wrong way to solve a problem that arises in very particular locations under very particular conditions.”
Gottlieb Daimler famously invented one of the first cars here in his garden in 1886.
“In other countries the commerce minister might lobby for the car industry; in Germany it is the chancellor.”
The ruling came as the German car industry is still struggling to emerge from an ongoing global emissions scandal
that forced Volkswagen to pay more than $26 billion in fines and plead guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges in the United States.
“As soon as you arrive,” said Manfred Niess, a retired teacher and local environmental activist, “you know who rules here.”
Now, though, Daimler and other automakers in Stuttgart are facing a startling new reality: It may soon be illegal
for some to drive a Mercedes in this city, where the local soccer club plays in the Mercedes-Benz stadium.
On Tuesday, a German court ruled that Stuttgart, one of the country’s most polluted
cities, can ban diesel cars from driving in downtown areas to improve air quality.
“And now you want to tell them that they can’t drive their car?”
Mr. Niess, the retired teacher and environmental activist, has won three court cases against the city for not upholding air quality standards.
“It threatens to produce a regulatory hodgepodge in Germany, which is unsettling for millions of motorists.”
The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, whose members include car-parts makers and other companies in the automotive supply chain, said in a statement
that “driving bans for diesel vehicles are the wrong way to solve a problem that arises in very particular locations under very particular conditions.”
Gottlieb Daimler famously invented one of the first cars here in his garden in 1886.
“In other countries the commerce minister might lobby for the car industry; in Germany it is the chancellor.”
The ruling came as the German car industry is still struggling to emerge from an ongoing global emissions scandal
that forced Volkswagen to pay more than $26 billion in fines and plead guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges in the United States.
“As soon as you arrive,” said Manfred Niess, a retired teacher and local environmental activist, “you know who rules here.”
Now, though, Daimler and other automakers in Stuttgart are facing a startling new reality: It may soon be illegal
for some to drive a Mercedes in this city, where the local soccer club plays in the Mercedes-Benz stadium.
On Tuesday, a German court ruled that Stuttgart, one of the country’s most polluted
cities, can ban diesel cars from driving in downtown areas to improve air quality.
“And now you want to tell them that they can’t drive their car?”
Mr. Niess, the retired teacher and environmental activist, has won three court cases against the city for not upholding air quality standards.