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Germany Greenlights Cities to Ban Diesel Cars

This is not a good time to be a diesel car owner, let alone a diesel car manufacturer. Germany, the heaven of oil-powered vehicles for so long and the main car market inside the European Union, has just ruled against its once favorite child.
Stuttgart panorama 1 photo
Photo: Wiki commons
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig was due to make a decision last week, but given the implications, it was postponed until February 27. A quick look at the calendar tells us it's the 28th today, which means we can now tell you (via The Washington Post) that German municipalities are free to ban the access of diesel cars within their premises.

That feels like a pretty totalitarian decision, not exactly fitting to a democratic country like Germany, but it mostly depends on how you look at it. Should cities be allowed to regulate what their citizens drove? Well, as long as their vehicles have been proven to pose a health hazard to everyone around, then yes.

Think of it as passive smoking. You're not allowed to light up a cigarette indoors because there are people around who want to have nothing to do with your smoke. Outdoors, though, you're free to do as you like. It's the same with diesel engines, only the indoors turns into an entire town and the outdoors into the countryside.

The actual decision only refers to two towns - Dusseldorf and Stuttgart - but it has created a precedent that others can rely on when passing similar decisions. It's not clear at the moment how soon any ban is going to be enforced - if at all - but the possibility is there, and it's enough to scare the bejesus out of certain people and companies.

The first to be affected are the current diesel owners, who should be given a few years advance notice to do something about their cars before enforcing any ban. Some have likened the decision to expropriation, saying they are literally forced to sell their cars or move out of town, presuming they won't all go with it.

And they won't. Despite being at the heart of the scandal, it's hard to imagine Stuttgart, the home of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, do anything like that. Munich, the hometown of BMW as well. These companies hold tremendous influence in the area, so it's unlikely anyone would risk upsetting them.

At the same time, entire countries are saying no to diesel, so the more likely scenario is that the bans will eventually come, but with a very long grace period so that everyone has plenty of time to adjust. Think 2030 and onward, if we were to guess.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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