The best car in the world has always been the S-Class from Mercedes-Benz: Equipped with the latest technology, luxurious and powerful, the Stuttgart flagship has always been the global benchmark for the top vehicle category. But now there is competition from in-house. As a top product for the supposedly electric future, Daimler did not electrify the S-Class, but developed a completely independent model: the EQS. We drove it.

From Jens Meiners  Read full article ... (971 words, 3 images)

"Actual ban on combustion engines, neither innovation-friendly nor open to technology, consumers' freedom of choice is restricted, no assessment of the social consequences", so clearly criticized the President of the Association of the Automotive Industry, Hildegard Müller, of the plans of the EU Commission on the way to so-called "climate neutrality." ".

But what is now supposed to change industrial policy as hard as a hammer is not yet legal. In addition, the intentions of the Commission itself are controversial within the Commission. Behind the “Green Deal” appearance by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the conflicts are still hidden and will soon break open, especially in the coordination with the EU countries.  Read full article ... (406 words)

The Audi bang for the burners from 2026 hit like a bomb. The smoke column of this communication explosion still stands over Auto-Deutschland. Now VW has followed suit. BMW is approaching the topic more carefully and wants to take customer requests into account. All in all, the VDA seems to be stabbing the VDA in the back, which started the anti-auto industry avalanche with the big bang "diesel fraud". Now the VW group seems to overtake even the toughest demands of the Greens, more precisely: to want to undermine them.

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It would be a mistake to turn the EU's mobility strategy upside down as part of the “Green Deal”: 171 scientists in an open letter to the EU Commission asked for calculation errors at CO₂-Balancing of electromobility pointed out. One of the authors, Professor Thomas Koch from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), explains what it is about in an interview with Jens Meiners from the Authors' Union Mobility.

Professor Koch, what is the mistake of reasoning and calculation that you are criticizing?  Read full article ... (897 words)

"The political pressure has simply become too great," says an ex-development director of a German premium manufacturer on the subject of the combustion engine. Currently announced by Audi, this decision will change the car market dramatically. "The decision was obviously made under pressure from VW boss Herbert Diess, who wants to switch the entire group to electricity."

The decision will fall on Audi because it is also suggesting to current Audi customers that they are backing the wrong horse if they still buy an Audi internal combustion engine today. Audi customers would feel abandoned, even betrayed, by their company.  Read full article ... (639 words)

Audi has now announced the end of the combustion engine. Regardless of whether you think it's great or bad: In the future, bans on internal combustion engines will be rampant around the world. An overview noted by Harald Kaiser.

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"Instead of practicing gender-speaking, we should better concentrate on the further development of our vehicles, the lead through technology," complains a not insignificant Audi man from the development department. He is not the only one who thinks the Audiian spelling is "the greatest nonsense since the introduction of the defeat device in group engines". A VW employee even feels discriminated against and has filed a lawsuit against the gender language prescribed by HR director Sabine Maaßen at the regional court in Ingolstadt.  Read full article ... (432 words)

The best thing about electromobility is (still) the compromise. And I am convinced that it is called a plug-in hybrid. No range worries, driving without necessarily having to charge electrical energy beforehand, still being able to drive emission-free in the city and driving economically even with the combustion engine. This point of view was confirmed by the BMW 330e Touring Plug-in Hybrid, which not only impressed me as an automobile, but also with a few interesting technological features.

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Since the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on stricter and more specific rules on "climate protection" after 2030, the parties have been overturning proposals that are even more stringent than the Paris Agreement in advance obedience. Above all, the federal government itself exceeds some of the demands of the Greens. Not for the sake of so-called “climate protection”, but to take all arrows out of the quiver of anti-car arguments for the Greens in the federal election campaign.  Read full article ... (912 words)

Audi boss Markus Duesmann sums up the dilemma or the balancing act of the automaker aptly, but in a somewhat ambivalent way: “We give full power to the electric cars and at the same time full throttle to the combustion engines, and there too with the corresponding electrification, but of course with a strong one Focus on fully electric vehicles. ”Indians would say: The Audi chief speaks with a forked tongue.

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The seventh generation of the VW Polo has to do without economical diesels. It had been foreseeable for a long time that expensive exhaust gas cleaning could no longer be economically integrated into the small car segment. This is no reason to be sad, because the gasoline engines, all of which are offered as three-cylinder engines, should be (almost) just as economical. And for those who really want an alternative drive, there is a natural gas engine that automatically switches to petrol when the gas tank is empty.

Photos show the R version  Read full article ... (655 words, 3 images)

What BMW had developed close to series production in the seven-cylinder 12-cylinder and presented it in large format at the world exhibition in Hanover in 2000, but then discontinued it rather silently and without a sound, Toyota is now presenting in racing: the hydrogen combustion engine! Toyota is actually serious about the technology openness that is demanded from all sides.

Toyota only recently surprised them by further developing e-mobility with batteries. The company now has several arrows in its quiver: battery cars, fuel cell cars and now also the combustion engine with hydrogen. Initially only in racing, however, Toyota is known for its lengthy strategy. What did the German car managers smile more contemptuously than admiringly when Toyota launched the first hybrid model, the Prius. The current chairman of the supervisory board of Daimler AG Bernd Pischetsrieder, as BMW boss, called it the wrong way to pack two drives in a car. Today almost every manufacturer, including Mercedes-Benz of course, offers hybrid drives, mostly as plug-ins.  Read full article ... (304 words)

All German car manufacturers are getting faster and faster on the e-highway and consistently take the unjust accusation that they have missed e-mobility ad absurdum. In fact, given the speed at which new electric vehicles are presented, one could get the impression that e-mobility is about to make a breakthrough. That is certainly not the case for a long time, but even skeptical minds like me become thoughtful.

Audi has just presented two more attractive Stromers that not only look good, but also put innovative features on the road, or better: bring them into the cockpit. In Shanghai there is another e-bang from Audi to marvel at, which, as usual, is initially intended to promote the “E-Volution” (Audi formulation) as a study. As a counterpoint to the EQS from Mercedes-Benz, the A6 e-tron concept also shines with a range of 700 kilometers and thus takes a lot of the air out of the sails of a range pioneer of the electric S-Class.  Read full article ... (412 words, 2 images)

The federal government pretends to promote electromobility. With high purchase premiums, it only gives the impression that it is actually massively promoting e-mobility. However, the government only promotes the dearly subsidized motivation to buy an e-car. When it comes to supporting the range problems of buyers with electric charging stations: Nothing. As the owner of almost all motorway rest areas, the federal government would have the option of installing thousands of charging stations.

But she does so very hesitantly. Just one example: On the A8 in Jettingen-Scheppach between Munich and Stuttgart there is only one fast charging station and two normal chargers, hidden behind the Shell petrol station. Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer could promote what the Transport Minister himself propagated: People buy e-cars. And as long as the government suspends market developments via e-premium, the sales figures of e-mobiles hide the fact that e-skepticism is still high. "Without subsidies, we would only sell a tenth of our e-cars - if at all," admits the head of a large Audi dealership.  Read full article ... (321 words)

If the VDA is now selling the partial easing of the planned Euro 7 limit values ​​as a success of its criticism of the EU Commission's deliberations, it is a different kind of appeasement attempt by the burners critics. Because the higher limit values ​​that are now in the room, but not yet resolved, mean the end of the combustion in the long term - and not only with fossil fuel. Then the Green Deal will become the green crash of the auto industry.

VDA President Hildegard Müller has argued vehemently against the plans of the EU Commission. The possible “concession” of the EU is at best a sanctimonious act of mercy on unsuspecting bureaucrats who - supported by Ursula von der Leyen - would like to bring about the green crash of the German automotive industry from the Green Deal. If the VDA now believes that it has prevented the end of the combustion engine, that is very naive. The car opponents in the EU are not really interested in abolishing the combustion engine, but want to massively restrict individual mobility. Even if all cars were powered electrically, the resistance and criticism of individual mobility would persist.  Read full article ... (426 words)