Angela Merkel cites trust problem at carmakers

Bloomberg

Angela Merkel, running for a fourth term as chancellor in Germany’s September 24 election, reiterated that her nation’s auto sector has “seen a great loss of trust” and needs to atone for past mistakes.
Speaking on her weekly podcast on Saturday, Merkel said the industry is in a period of rapid change, and “modern drive technology is, of course, a preferred area for us to support research.” Nevertheless, “mistakes that were made must be made good again; we have a lot more to do on that front.”
The nation’s biggest industry is accused of making cars that pollute more on the road than under test conditions, and much of Merkel’s time in the run-up to the election has focussed on the sector, employing 800,000 people in Germany. Her opening campaign speech in August criticised Germany’s auto executives, and she has regularly mentioned the failures of the industry since. She’s also scheduled to open the International Motor Show in Frankfurt on September 14.
Merkel has so far pledged to avoid banning diesel vehicles, arguing that the technology will become cleaner and helps reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. She didn’t address the debate over scrapping diesel, while reiterating that diesel and combustion engines will still be around for decades as emission-free vehicle technology gathers pace.
“It’s not going to be a linear rise, but if it happens, it’ll be exponential, like we saw with technologies like solar energy,” Merkel said on the podcast.