There is no sign of the world abandoning the internal combustion engine. In fact, it is only a target in the EU, says BMW's managing director.
BMW extended the contract of the current managing director, Oliver Zipse, last year. The 60-year-old German can now sit in his position until 2026.
But that doesn't mean he's sitting back. When BMW recently held the brand's annual conference, there was a clear message from the director to the EU.
The EU's CO2 regulations for the car industry simply do not work, Oliver Zipse said. Another thing is that there is no sign that the world is ready to abandon the internal combustion engine.
Reuters writes that.
In fact, says BMW, only the EU has set a definitive end date for the internal combustion engine and a goal to gradually phase out the technology.
– There is no indication that the world is renouncing cars with a combustion engine, Zipse said back in August, referring to the markets outside the EU.
Since then, however, a country such as Ethiopia has chosen to ban the import of cars with combustion engines. However, it has nothing to do with the climate. Read more about it here.
Several others in the automotive industry also share BMW's point of view. For example, the head of Mahle, one of Germany's largest subcontractors in the same industry, has demanded that the EU withdraw a planned ban on the internal combustion engine.
– We need to lift the complete ban on cars with internal combustion engines, which the EU has decided, says managing director Arnd Franz in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
At Toyota, too, you will not be subject to political rules. Last year, the Japanese brand's former director and current chairman, Akio Toyoda, said that motorists – not laws and regulations – should decide what cars do.
However, this does not mean that Toyota ignores the electric car. Or ignoring ways to reduce the car brand's carbon footprint.
Most recently, Toyota has announced that it is trying a new type of CO2 filter directly on cars with a combustion engine. Read more about it here .
