Germany to join diesel ban soon – chancellor Merkel

Paris, Madrid and Mexico City set plans to ban diesel cars by 2025, with Norway planning to ban both petrols and diesels within a similar timeline. More recently France and Britain outlined plans to do the same by 2040.

Now, Germany is next to introduce a ban on the sale of new diesel-powered cars in the future, said German chancellor Angela Merkel in an Autocar report, though no set timeline has been confirmed yet. Britain’s move to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars was “the right approach,” said Merkel in a interview with German magazine Superille.

It’s also important to protect jobs in the German automotive sector – which has been weathering the Dieselgate scandal – which employs more than 800,000 people and is the country’s largest exporter, Merkel added. The German government’s help in promoting new technology and developing infrastructure is key in the industry’s shift to electric and alternative powertrains, she added.