"A wrong approach for us": Germany leads group of EU nations against internal combustion engines ban

Germany has joined with the likes of the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to call for changes to a proposed ban on internal combustion engines by 2035, calling the deadlines unrealistic.

"The proposal needs changes urgently," German Transport Minister Volker Wissing said, as reported by Reuters.

He said the sentiment is shared by other nations and is pushing for amendments to the laws to allow other zero-emission vehicles technology to be exempt from the laws, citing advances in areas like e-fuels which can be produced and burned with almost no environmental impact.

"A ban on the combustion engine, when it can run in a climate-neutral way, seems a wrong approach for us," he said.

While most nations are for the changes, a key handful of nations whose already smaller economies rely on automotive manufacturing say the changes aren’t realistically achievable.

"Our effort is, in the area of Euro 7, to make those conditions really realistic, to make them achievable," Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka told Reuters.

"If we are really serious about trying to bring Europe to greater carbon neutrality, I think that really means bringing in technologically realistic measures," Kupka said.

Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan has criticised the pushback in a LinkedIn post, and said the process was supposed to advance after the EU Parliament agreed on the move in the middle of February.

“Member States were supposed to do the same in early March…now a few of them are attempting to derail the process. This is a deeply worrying and disappointing development."

"Now is not the time for backtracking and blocking of science-based climate targets for our industry," he said.

But in a report from Automotive News Europe, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said a change in legislation to allow technologies like e-fuels to continue wouldn’t affect the brand’s push into electrification.

"If e-fuels are approved for the future, this will not lead to a change of Porsche's strategy," Blume said.