Zipse and his fellow European executives are set to meet with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday for the next strategic dialogue for the sector, where they are expected to lobby for significant changes to the 2035 legislation.
They have political allies in making the plea.
Italian business minister Adolfo Urso is eager for the 2035 legislation to be overturned. The conservative European People’s Party in the European Parliament included reversing the ban in last year’s election platform.
Merz has taken a softer stance as a result of the coalition between his conservative Christian Democrats, which want the ban reversed, and the center-left Social Democrats, which argue the legislation needs to remain in place as part of a broader effort to tackle climate change.
But Merz had help in his plea from the other speakers on Tuesday, leaving no room for a different interpretation of his meaning.
“This ban is wrong. We need to remove it,” Markus Söder, the conservative premier of Bavaria, said ahead of the chancellor. “The CO2 goals of 2035 need to be adjusted to reality.”
Hildegard Müller, the head of Germany’s car lobby VDA, pushed for the group’s 10-point plan, which argues the 2035 legislation should change its target from 100 percent zero-emission vehicles to 90 percent and allow for other powertrains like hybrids and range extenders and make space for alternative fuels, the industry argues, also meet climate goals.
Those options would give an additional lease on life to the combustion engine.