German emissions target

German chancellor Angela Merkel summoned car bosses to Berlin this week to discuss ways to increase sales of low emissions electric and hybrid cars in the wake of Volkswagen’s pollution cheating scandal.

Political pressure to do more to promote low-polluting cars has increased since September when Volkswagen admitted that it had rigged diesel emissions tests in the United States using cheat software.

German automakers have for years relied on a recipe of selling larger, more powerful cars to please autobahn cruising clients and to juice the profits of its premium carmakers Daimler, BMW, and Audi.