The auto industry is meeting with Chancellor Scholz on Tuesday for top-level talks. While the industry is preparing its demands, transport associations with other priorities feel left out.
The federal government faces several problems with the sustainable restructuring of the auto industry: It must create the conditions for companies to produce enough electric cars and for people to buy them. At the same time, development and production should remain in the country and jobs should be preserved as far as possible. The federal government wants to develop solutions together with the industry and has therefore created a “Strategy platform for the transformation of the automotive and mobility industry”. Before the summit meeting in the Federal Chancellery this Tuesday, she is already receiving criticism.
Because the car industry is mainly represented in the conversation: the heads of the car companies Mercedes, VW and BMW, Ola Källenius, Oliver Blume and Oliver Zipse are expected. Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), an important VW shareholder, should also be there. Representatives of suppliers and IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann have been invited. Who is missing from the point of view of the critics: players in the transport sector outside of the car industry.
“false labeling”
The fact that the title of the platform refers to the entire mobility industry is therefore “false labeling,” said Dirk Flege, general manager of the Allianz Pro Schiene interest group, on Monday.
The cycling club ADFC, the Federal Association of Future Bicycles and the Two-Wheeler Industry Association made similar statements. “Wherever it says mobility economy, mobility economy must also be inside,” said Wasilis von Rauch, Managing Director of Zukunft Fahrrad. The associations asked Scholz to make the traffic turnaround a top priority.
The construction industry would also like to come. The construction of infrastructure, for example in the high-performance rail network, is “the basis for the mobility turnaround and we are building this turnaround,” said the general manager of the Main Association of the German Construction Industry, Tim-Oliver Müller, on Monday. “That’s why I can’t understand why the building doesn’t play a role at the Chancellor’s mobility summit.”
Start-up of electromobility in Germany
Instead, the meeting on Tuesday should be about, among other things, the ramp-up of electromobility in Germany. Accordingly, the responsible associations presented their demands beforehand. “Anyone who wants to switch to e-mobility quickly should not cut the funding for battery-electric vehicles at the moment,” said Jürgen Karpinski, President of the Central Association of the German Motor Trade. “We need long-term, reliable funding conditions and accelerated expansion of the charging infrastructure, otherwise customer confidence will suffer.”
The Association of the German Biofuel Industry (VDB) warned against neglecting combustion engines with biofuels. “Abandoning biofuels would thwart the goal of quickly reducing the consumption of fossil fuels in road traffic,” said the association’s managing director, Elmar Baumann.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
