Merkel warns against EU car emissions regulation, says combustion engines still indispensable

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against excessively strict exhaust regulations for the European car industry, Handelsblatt writes. Europe shouldn’t say it won’t ban the combustion engine, but then make it "technically impossible,” Merkel said at a meeting of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations. The German government wants to advance the transition to electric mobility. "But of course we will still be dependent on combustion engines for the next years,” Merkel said. 

Merkel was referring to a working group of industry and government representatives that will accompany planned legislative measures in Brussels, such as the new ‘Euro 7’ emissions standard. Although nothing has been decided yet, a study commissioned by the EU Commission finds that rules will be much stricter than those of the ‘Euro 6’ standards, Handelsblatt writes. The automotive industry fears that if EU emissions limits are too strict, it will put an end to combustion engine cars by 2025.

One day after Merkel’s warning, German car manufacturer Daimler reportedly made an error in determining emissions values. The company now needs to recall 30,000 cars throughout Germany. "There were inaccuracies in certification measurements on the test bench," Daimler confirmed to German business magazine WirschaftsWoche. According to the Federal Ministry of Transport (BMVI), the test bench fan in the cars is not correctly installed, which resulted in too-high temperatures. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is therefore now requiring Daimler to eliminate this "deviation in production.”