āAngela Merkel defends diesel carsā
German chancellor Angela Merkel has defended diesel cars as environmentally friendly, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. āDiesel cars are as good for climate protection today as they were yesterday and the day before yesterday,ā Merkel said during an election campaign rally in Saarland. The chancellor said it was āperfidiousā of the Greens āand partly also of the Social Democratsā to tell people otherwise ābecause one company did not play by the rules.ā German authorities in the past endorsed diesel cars as a climate-friendly alternative due to their lower emissions. Sales figures of cars equipped with the technology have fallen in the aftermath of Volkswagenās ādieselgateā scandal, referring to the companyās practice of manipulating emissions values of their diesel cars.
Read the article in German .
For background, see the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę factsheet Facts on the German state elections in Saarland.