‘Diesel cars are finished’, European Commissioner says, as Europe takes on the US and China
Brussels — EU consumers may do as much as regulators to propel the region’s car sector into the electricity-powered age foreseen by Tesla, according to the EU’s industrial policy chief. European Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said the EU had had a "breakthrough moment" after Germany-based Volkswagen (VW) admitted in 2015 that it fitted diesel engines with software to cheat US checks on smog-causing discharges of nitrogen oxides. This deeply affected "the emotions in society toward emissions and cleaner cars", she said. "Diesel cars are finished," Bienkowska said in an interview in Brussels on May 24. "I think in several years they will completely disappear. This is the technology of the past." The vehicle-emissions scandal may help the EU gear up for a technological revolution in road transport. Europe is seeking to retain leadership in the worldwide market for passenger cars in the face of competition from the US, where Tesla is based, and China, which accounts for about half of ...
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