European diesel ban liable to backfire
Banning diesel cars in European cities could hamper car makers’ ability to invest in zero-emission vehicles, the European Union’s commissioner for industry has warned the bloc’s transport ministers.
The commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said there would be no benefit in a collapse of the market for diesel cars and that the short-term focus should be on forcing car makers to bring dangerous nitrogen oxide emissions into line with EU regulations.
“While I am convinced that we should rapidly head for zero-emission vehicles in Europe, policymakers and industry cannot have an interest in a rapid collapse of the diesel market in Europe as a result of local driving bans,” Ms Bienkowska said.
“It would only deprive the industry of necessary funds to invest in zero-emissions vehicles,” she said in a letter.
Germany’s three major car makers have invested heavily in diesel technology, which offers more efficient fuel burn and lower carbon dioxide emissions than petrol-powered cars.
But since Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating on US emissions tests, worries about vehicle pollution have left the entire car industry under scrutiny. A particular concern is emissions by diesel cars of nitrogen oxide, which is blamed for causing respiratory diseases.
In the letter, Ms Bienkowska told ministers she was concerned that emissions violations at Audi and Porsche were discovered by prosecutors and not Germany’s vehicle and transport authorities.
Her letter also called for all cars with excessively high levels of nitrogen oxide emissions to be taken off European roads, but said car makers should act on a voluntary basis. The commissioner did raise the prospect of an EU testing agency if national regulators failed to spot more emissions-test cheats.
Munich, home to the car maker BMW, has become the latest German city to consider banning some diesel vehicles. Environmental groups say diesel bans in cities can cut nitrogen oxide emissions and force motor manufacturers to design cleaner vehicles.
Experts who have seen the letter to ministers say the commissioner appeared to be bowing to car makers’ demands.
“Her letter contained some important statements that we believe show the industry’s lobbyists have scored a big win,” said the Bernstein analyst Max Warburton.
“They have likely argued that castigating or banning diesel would harm the industry’s earnings and employees, harm efforts to reduce carbon dioxide and harm owners of current vehicles.”
The warning comes as the car maker Seat, the Spanish unit of VW, said it considers compressed-natural-gas (CNG) to be an alternative fuel to diesel.
Seat was betting on CNG to compensate for falling diesel car sales, its chief executive
Luca de Meo was quoted as saying in part of a report due to run in full in today’s issue of Automobilwoche.
“We have to offer customers a sensible solution. The debate about diesel is continuing and therefore we need other options,” he said. While Seat, bought by Volkswagen in 1986, was less exposed to diesel dependency than premium car makers, it still had to observe market dynamics very carefully, Mr de Meo added.
“If the mayor of Barcelona decides to close the city centre for Euro-6-diesels, then customers will probably no longer buy diesel cars,” he said.
Lutz Meschke, the finance chief of the sister company Porsche, also said in the article that discussions about a diesel-free future were under way.
“In our segment, we have the right answers with plug-in hybrids and purely electrical drives. Why should I anxiously hold on to a diesel?” he said.