Overview

• Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he will lobby EU leaders and the European Commission to scrap the planned 2035 approval ban for new petrol and diesel cars and will raise the issue at the Copenhagen summit on 1–2 October.
• He argued for technology openness, urging allowance for range extenders and hybrid drives so manufacturers can choose their own path to CO2 neutrality.
• Senior SPD and Green figures criticized the intervention as a source of planning uncertainty and a risk to competitiveness and climate goals, though some SPD voices welcomed a debate on flexibility.
• Lower Saxony’s Minister-President Olaf Lies called the goal of only pure electric new cars unrealistic and urged permitting plug‑in hybrids and generator-based range extenders beyond 2035.
• The employers’ group Niedersachsenmetall backed Lies, warning that high EV prices, sparse charging and costly power burden the shift and proposing HVO100 diesel as a near-term option to cut emissions with existing engines.