Germany to urge EU to soften 2035 ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is to urge the EU to soften the 2035 cutoff date for the sale of combustion-engine cars,Merz said he would send a letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday urging Brussels to keep technological options open for carmakers,The sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the EU is scheduled to be banned in a decade’s time,Merz’s letter hardens the battle lines emerging between Germany’s powerhouse car industry and those pleading with Brussels to stick to its flagship green policy, which is designed to help the EU meet its 2050 carbon-neutral target,“We’re sending the right signal to the commission with this letter,” Merz said, adding that the German government wanted to protect the climate in “a technology-neutral way”.
Merz has previously said he would do all he could to ensure the 2035 deadline was softened.He has now argued it is vital that hybrid cars are allowed to still be made after 2035.Merz said he would ask for a series of exemptions in his letter, including the right to continue to produce plug-in hybrids, battery hybrids – in which driving charges the battery – and range-extended electric vehicles with “highly efficient” combustion engines as backup to cope with long journeys.“I will ask the commission, even after 2035, to continue to allow battery-electric vehicles that also have a combustion engine,” he said.“It is much more opportune and pragmatic to invest more effort and money in the development of efficient, hybrid systems that will combine the best of the world of internal combustion engines on the one hand and electric mobility on the other.
”The EU’s planned ban has faced complaints from some automakers that it was unworkable given European drivers’ tepid take-up of electric vehicles,The EU in September said it would fast track a review of its plans to give carmakers more certainty,Merz has repeatedly spoken out against the ban, but he needed to discuss the matter with his centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners before communicating a joint position to the EU,Speaking alongside Merz, the SPD vice-chancellor and finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, said his party agreed with Merz’s centre-right CDU that there had to be changes to the ban,“The future viability of the German automotive industry, securing jobs, that is the key argument for us,” he said.
“We agree that the future of the industry is electric … but we need to be open to more technologies, we need flexibility,”The German car sector is in crisis, faced with the costs of increasing investment in EVs and fierce Chinese competition that is biting into sales,Speaking alongside Merz and Klingbeil, the head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, Markus Söder, said the government would introduce a subsidy of up to €5,000 (£4,380) for the purchase of electric or hybrid cars with components largely made in Germany, in an effort to boost the car industry,On Wednesday, the European Commission vice-president, Stéphane Séjourné, said that the EU was willing to show “flexibility” in how the combustion engine phase-out was achieved, ahead of a commission announcement expected on 10 December,The EU Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, was asked on Friday if the German position would change its direction on the 2035 deadline.
“We’re talking of a very, very important proposal that has big implications around Europe,” she said, adding that a consultation on the issue had closed on 10 October.“We will carefully study everything that comes our way, including the position of the German government today.”However, the Swedish carmaker Volvo and its spin-off, Polestar, the only all-electric carmaker in Europe, and hundreds of industries that have already poured money into EVs and battery factories, are vehemently opposed to softening the 2035 date.
Chess: Sindarov, 19, becomes youngest World Cup winner as London Classic begins
Javokhir Sindarov, 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Fide knockout World Cup on Wednesday when the Uzbek defeated China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 in the final at Goa. Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov had been a year younger in 2002, but that World Cup had also doubled as the Fide world championship in a period when the global title was disputed.Wei was the favourite, but handicapped himself by poor time management in the decisive game
Iga Swiatek: ‘I didn’t want to give any points for free – it’s a Wimbledon final and I wanted to win’
SW19 champion baffled by post-match suggestions she should have let Amanda Anisimova win one game in grand slam final as she turns focus to Australian Open in 2026In the coming months, if and when her schedule allows, Iga Swiatek will make a pilgrimage to London and the All England Club, the scene of her biggest and, she admits, most surprising triumph. In July, the 24-year-old won her first Wimbledon title and sixth grand slam title in all, crushing a hapless Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.It was the undoubted highlight of an up-and-down year for the Pole, who struggled on her best surface of clay but who will end 2025 ranked No 2, her fourth year in a row finishing inside the world’s top two.It is a quirk unique to Wimbledon that the singles’ champions are given honorary membership to the All England Club, granting them access any time they choose. Like many before her, Swiatek is keen to experience the sport’s most storied venue when fans and her fellow players are not around
Green days: Ben Ainslie’s new team lead the way on and out of the water | Emma John
British sailors have always been a belligerent bunch. Francis Drake, Lord Nelson, Admiral Cunningham … and, of course, Sir Ben Ainslie. The most successful Olympian in sailing’s history is also the sport’s equivalent of The Hulk: you really don’t want to make him angry.So perhaps it’s a good thing that there has been plenty to annoy him this year, not least that acrimonious split from his America’s Cup team owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. In true Ainslie style, it only seems to have made him more dangerous
NFL on Thanksgiving: Cowboys 31-28 Chiefs, Lions 24-31 Packers – as it happened
Is Kansas City’s season over? Not quite but one more loss now and that will be close to curtains for the Chiefs. Meanwhile Dak Prescott has just thrown for 328 yards and two touchdowns with a pick for a third win in succession. The Cowboys are right on the bubble now after looking totally cooked earlier in the season.Right, thanks very much if you have joined for the action today. Goodnight!Cowboys 31-28 Chiefs 2:00, 4th quarterThe two-minute warning has sounded
Fuzzy Zoeller, two-time major winner haunted by racist Tiger Woods joke, dies aged 74
Fuzzy Zoeller, the two-time major champion whose genial public persona was overshadowed by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods that came to define the latter part of his career, has died aged 74.No cause of death was immediately available. Brian Naugle, tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston and a longtime colleague, said Zoeller’s daughter notified him of the death on Thursday.Zoeller, born Frank Urban Zoeller Jr in New Albany, Indiana, was one of golf’s most outgoing characters across a career that delivered historic highs. He was the first player in more than four decades to win the Masters on his debut, claiming the 1979 green jacket after a three-man playoff
Cricket nerds love precedent so maybe England can channel spirit of Lord’s 2005
The parallels are imperfect but, as with Michael Vaughan’s Ashes winners, hyper-aggressive cricket with a tweaked approach in the second Test is the 2025 cohort’s only chance of winningTwenty years on, a montage of the 2005 Ashes still tingles the spine. Close your eyes and you can probably make your own, with an Embrace soundtrack if you want to be right on the nose. Chances are you’ll see Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff belting sixes with lusty abandon; Geraint Jones wheeling away after winning the epic Edgbaston Test; Ashley Giles calmly patting the winning runs at Trent Bridge; Flintoff’s messianic dismissal of Ricky Ponting at Edgbaston; Simon Jones detonating Michael Clarke’s off stump at Old Trafford.All those moments came in England victories or winning draws. But no 2005 montage is complete without images of Ponting being cut below the eye or Justin Langer’s right elbow ballooning in real time
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