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Dieter Zetsche: lack of subsidies will limit sales of plug-in vehicles in Germany
Daimler AG chief executive officer, Dieter Zetsche, told the Bild newspaper that if the German government doesn’t offer subsidies for plug-in vehicles, then the nation will fail to hit its goal of having at least one million plug-ins on its streets by the end of 2020. During a recent interview with the Bild, Zetsche predicted that, without incentives, Germany will have 500,000 electric cars by then.
In early May, the German government announced that it’s ready to dispense “billions of euros” to promote the deployment of plug-ins autos so that at least one million of these vehicles are registered nationwide by the end of 2020. At the time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was reportedly ready to sign off on legislation that would eliminate the motor vehicle tax on plug-in vehicles for the first ten years of registration and reduce taxes on plug-in vehicles used for work purposes. We wonder how she reacted to Zetsche’s assertion that Germany doesn’t stand a chance of hitting that one-million mark unless actual subsidies are involved.
In early May, the German government announced that it’s ready to dispense “billions of euros” to promote the deployment of plug-ins autos so that at least one million of these vehicles are registered nationwide by the end of 2020. At the time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was reportedly ready to sign off on legislation that would eliminate the motor vehicle tax on plug-in vehicles for the first ten years of registration and reduce taxes on plug-in vehicles used for work purposes. We wonder how she reacted to Zetsche’s assertion that Germany doesn’t stand a chance of hitting that one-million mark unless actual subsidies are involved.
[Source: Automotive News Europe – sub. req.]
