New emissions test might lead to higher vehicle tax

Customers buying a new passenger car after September 2018 might have to pay a higher motor vehicle tax because of the switch to a new emissions test called the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) based on calculations by auto club ADAC. Cars will use more fuel in the new tests, thus emitting more CO₂, which is one of the benchmarks for calculating Germany’s motor vehicle tax. “With the WLTP system […] we will have fairer data on fuel consumption and pollution,” the Federal Transport Ministry (BMVI) told the FAZ.

Find an ADAC article on the topic in German here.

For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the article Germany’s car-loving transport minister faces clean mobility challenge.