Germany Calls on EU to Soften Combustion Ban to Aid Carmakers
Employees work on the assembly line at the Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH plant in Zwickau, Germany.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergChancellor Friedrich Merz said his governing coalition will seek to loosen an effective ban on combustion-engine vehicles in the European Union as Germany seeks to ease pressure on its embattled carmakers.
Merz’s conservatives and the co-ruling Social Democrats want the EU to allow plug-in hybrids, electric cars with combustion-powered range extenders and “highly efficient” conventional vehicles to be allowed beyond 2035, when the ban is set to take effect, Merz said at a news conference in Berlin.