German government has few options to help struggling car industry – POLITICO

The government has already introduced tax incentives for electric cars as company cars. Habeck said Berlin could send “the right market signals” to encourage the use of electric cars — the number of which plummeted by 68 percent in August, part of an ongoing crisis caused by Berlin ending generous subsidies last year.

Long list of demands

There are no expectations for big spending, especially as the country tries to cut spending to prevent a large federal budget deficit. That rules out a return to so-called “scrapping subsidies” for old cars — introduced in 2009, which spurred more than a decade of economic growth.

While the industry has no illusions about the empty government, it wants Habeck to take action.

“A common understanding of the situation is extremely important,” VDA head Hildegard Müller told POLITICO, calling for concrete actions against “the excessive bureaucracy in Brussels and Berlin and the lack of investment in charging and hydrogen infrastructure and in the energy grid.”

EU efforts to stem the tide of Chinese electric vehicles by imposing new tariffs are also targeting the German auto industry. While the measure is strongly supported by countries like France, German automakers have long had a large and very profitable presence in China and are wary of angering Beijing.

The industry has been sounding the alarm for weeks, telling the government that the EU plans will cost it billions.