Green state premier seeks to avoid driving bans in Daimler鈥檚 home town Stuttgart
The Green state premier of the southern German federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, will try to evade diesel driving bans that could be imposed to improve air quality in Stuttgart, the state鈥檚 capital, the newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung reports. 鈥淚 hope I can avoid them,鈥 Kretschmann said, adding that there are numerous measures to reduce air pollution levels without banning diesel cars from entering the city鈥檚 busy roads. 鈥淎ir quality already is improving. Every year. It just doesn鈥檛 happen fast enough,鈥 Kretschmann said. The premier of carmaker Daimler鈥檚 home state criticised the German car industry for its sluggish reaction to the dieselgate scandal, which revealed that companies had sold millions of diesel cars with manipulated nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions values. 鈥淒ear car industry, wake up already!,鈥 the Green politician said, adding that the federal government also played a questionable role in the scandal鈥檚 settlement. Kretschmann said he privately drives a diesel car that meets the latest Euro 6 emissions standard, and would only consider buying an e-car once their range has been expanded.
Germany鈥檚 first driving bans had recently been imposed in the northern city of Hamburg, following a ruling by the country鈥檚 administrative court that allows imposing such bans to comply with EU air quality standards.
Read the article in German .
See 威力彩玩法鈥檚 diesel bans Q&A for background.