Climate groups including Greenpeace and Deutsche Umwelthilfe called recently for sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) to be banned as part of a wider campaign to curb pollution by the auto industry.
Carmakers should stop developing large, heavy cars and vehicles with combustion engines, the “Exit” consortium said at a press conference on the eve of the Frankfurt auto show.
“As long as SUVs rather than small electric vehicles dominate automotive transport, cars will remain the problem child for us climate activists,” the consortium said.
Volkswagen’s chief executive Herbert Diess has agreed to meet activists from “Sand in the Gearbox” for a debate about the auto industry recently.
The German automaker is preparing to launch a raft of hybrid and electric vehicles to try to banish a diesel emissions cheating scandal which has cost the company more than 30 billion euros ($33 billion) in refit costs and fines.
Hybrid vehicles can help cut carbon dioxide pollution, carmakers say.
