German government postpones decision on diesel retrofits after meeting with carmakers

The German government has postponed a decision on the hardware retrofitting of manipulated diesel cars, saying it plans to come to a conclusion by the end of the last week of September, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. “We want to make a decision soon,” transport minister Andreas Scheuer said after Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the CEOs of Germany’s leading car brands on 23 September. Scheuer said the priority was to replace older, manipulated diesel cars with new ones that are not equipped with a default device to conceal their true consumption and exhaust gas levels rather than to convert old cars. On 21 September, Merkel reportedly said she favoured the hardware retrofitting of affected cars to avoid driving bans, but carmakers oppose this option, arguing that it would be too expensive.

Read the article in German here.

Get background on the diesel story in the CLEW factsheet "Dieselgate" - a timeline of Germany's car emissions fraud scandal.