Thanks to Dieselgate, many people around the world have lost faith in the German auto industry.
For those of you who don't know, Dieselgate was a massive scandal surrounding Volkswagen in which emissions-cheating software was fitted to their diesel vehicles to help them pass emissions testing. As a result, Volkswagen's black eye seems to have affected everybody in some way.
Or has it? If the world's population has forgotten that Volkswagen was effectively invented by Adolf Hitler, surely it isn't hard to forget about a little bit of pollution?
Not for Angela Merkel. She has stated that Germany will soon set a date for the ending the sale of petrol and diesel-fueled vehicles. Great.
If anybody is struggling, only Volkswagen is, with the massive fines and fees imposed on them by the American government. Sales have decreased slightly, as well. TDI "clean" diesels are no longer available here.
That being said, from an American perspective, the majority of people aren't entirely bothered by the Dieselgate scandal, as most people don't own diesel cars. Furthermore, pollution and sustainability causes are not as popular in the US than in Europe.
The reason people think Germany's auto industry is imploding is because of the push to eliminate petrol and diesel cars. For some reason, nations have suddenly decided that cars are the root of all evil, and we need to eradicate them and force everybody to drive about in a Prius or a Tesla.
If anything, this push will only make things worse. Most power plants rely on fossil fuels to create electricity. If everybody drives about in electric cars, we will need more electricity. More electricity means greater load on the power grid, and the need to produce more electricity. This will cause more fossil fuels to be used, releasing harmful chemicals and gases into the environment. So, in theory, by switching from gasoline to electric, you're merely trading one fossil fuel for another.
Germany's "struggling" auto industry is only struggling because of extreme environmentalism. Companies are going to have to develop product lines featuring only hybrids and electric cars. Countries are forcing the issue of pollution without creating the infrastructure necessary to support the future influx of electric vehicles.
Forcing people to drive electric cars is utter fascism. I promise you, electric cars WILL NOT save the penguins and polar bears.
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