The end of diesel, but not of German automakers

The German automotive industry is in a deep crisis, but the impending diesel ban may well provide an important impetus for a successful reorientation.

Following the landmark ruling by the Stuttgart Administrative Court on July 28, 2017, all doubts are now a thing of the past: diesel no longer stands a chance as a means of powering passenger cars in the long term. The court ruled that driving bans for diesel vehicles in Stuttgart from January 1, 2018 will ensure that the air finally becomes cleaner. For many years now, the air in large cities has significantly exceeded the applicable limits. This regulation affects all diesel vehicles that do not meet the Euro 6 standard. It is true that the defendants have both an appeal and a jump appeal open to them to challenge this ruling. However, in the unanimous opinion of legal experts, the prospects of success are limited. Rather, similar rulings are likely in ongoing exhaust gas litigation in Munich, Hamburg and other major cities. For these reasons, a nationwide driving ban for older diesel vehicles can be expected in a few months or years.

The diesel ban and the labor market

Nitrogen oxides pollute the air we breathe to a considerable extent, especially in large cities and conurbations. Medical experts warn that these air pollutants now cause more deaths per year than traffic accidents. For this reason, it is now considered indisputable and without alternative that the automotive industry must establish effective exhaust gas purification processes for the manufacture of diesel cars in the short term. In the long term, the diesel engine even seems to have lost out completely, according to many environmentalists. This poses huge problems for the German automotive industry and, with it, the entire economy. Socially and politically explosive in equal measure is the question of how many jobs the paradigm shift is likely to cost and whether the German automakers will succeed in creating new jobs, at least in part. Observers of the labor market consider it particularly unfortunate that this negative development triggered by diesel coincides with digitization, which will also destroy jobs on a large scale. 

According to serious estimates, around 600,000 jobs in Germany depend on the production of combustion engines (diesel and gasoline). This means that one in ten jobs in German industry is directly related to these types of drive, which numerous renowned experts consider to be no longer viable for the future. This is not helped by the efforts of individual manufacturers to drive forward the development of new types of fuel that produce significantly lower harmful emissions when burned.

German industry better positioned than many claim

German industry is often accused of lacking innovation in future technologies in the field of modern drive systems for vehicles. American companies seem to be leading the way, particularly in e-mobility.

However, this assumption is unfounded: Globally, German engineers continue to occupy a leading position in the automotive sector and register a large proportion of the related patents. German automakers, on the other hand, encounter more difficulties when it comes to the practical implementation of innovative processes in drives that are suitable for everyday use and, above all, cost-effective. Added to this is the still unsatisfactory infrastructure, which is hardly geared to the requirements of e-mobility. Only if the government significantly expands the number of publicly accessible charging stations and also creates otherwise favorable conditions for the purchase and operation of e-cars will demand increase in this country and price of stocks in https://forexexness.org/.

German automakers are not focusing exclusively on electromobility. They are making considerable efforts to develop other types of drive as well. This applies in particular to hydrogen technology, which can be used to operate motor vehicles in a decidedly environmentally friendly way. Hybrid technology also does not appear to be off the table for good. It offers the possibility of reducing exhaust emissions. Hybrid vehicles will remain attractive as long as neither the range nor the charging time of electric motors reach satisfactory levels. Development activities are also extending to commercial vehicles and trucks, whose diesel emissions have so far been a major contributor to air pollution. Equally progressive are efforts to substantially reduce the weight of passenger cars in order to cut fuel consumption. BMW in particular should be mentioned in this context.