Carmakers continue to resist diesel hardware retrofits to cut NOx emissions

Despite the looming driving bans following the landmark 27 February court ruling, German carmakers continue to resist hardware retrofits to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from older diesel cars, report Michael Bauchmüller and Thomas Fromm in the lead article of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “From our perspective, hardware retrofits of all types and models would take at least two to three years,” the carmakers’ association VDA told the newspaper. During that time, older cars would be replaced by new ones anyway, thereby solving the pollution problem without the need for intervention, according to the VDA. An unnamed industry source commented to the authors that “This would involve so many different car models – how is this supposed to work?”
Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks told the paper that diesel owners who can and want to retrofit their cars should have the right to do so at the carmakers’ expense. “We can’t allow a discussion solely focused on badges, losing sight of those responsible for the problem in the first place.”

Read the article in German here.

Find background in the CLEW article Court ruling opens door for diesel bans in German cities, the  factsheet Diesel driving bans in Germany – The Q&A, and the dossier BMW, Daimler and VW vow to fight in green transport revolution.