As the battle lines harden amid Germany’s intensifying pressure on the European Commission to scrap the 2035 ban on production of new petrol and diesel cars, two Swedish car companies, Volvo and Polestar, are leading the campaign to persuade Brussels to stick to the date.
They argue such a move is a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks in the German car industry, adding that it will not just prolong take up of electric vehicles but inadvertently hand the advantage to China.
“Pausing 2035 is just a bad, bad idea. I have no other words for that,” says German-born Michael Lohscheller, the chief executive of Polestar, Europe’s only all-electric car manufacturer.
“If Europe doesn’t take the lead in this transformation, be rest assured, other countries will do it for us.”
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has called on the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to soften the 2035 cutoff date. He has asked her to permit the manufacture of new hybrid and highly efficient combustion engine cars beyond 2035 as consumers are still hesitant to buy EVs.
“We’re sending the right signal to the commission with this letter,” Merz said, adding that the German government wanted to protect the climate in “a technolo
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