German Environment Minister demands the use of domestic steel in cars
German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider called on automakers to purchase raw materials from domestic manufacturers.
"We should expect car companies to be more patriotic about where they are based," he told the Frankfurter Rundschau daily newspaper. Speaking about the domestic market, Schneider means, in particular, Germany, but also the European Union as a whole, as Callanish understands. "In Europe, we should give preference to purchases from European suppliers," he is quoted as saying.
He added that Germany needs its own functional steel industry in order to be independent and strong. He rejected proposals to move the main stages of steel production to offshore areas such as Saudi Arabia and provide only processing and refining in Germany.
"I maintain a leading position in the market of steel produced on the basis of environmentally friendly hydrogen," he said and expressed regret that automakers are still restrained in this regard. He suggested that plug-in hybrid cars could compensate for higher emissions if low-emission steel was used in their assembly. He noted that this is Germany's position in Brussels, and "I know that not everyone in the industry likes it."
German car production in January decreased by 9% year-on-year to about 306,000 passenger cars, partly due to the fact that the country had one fewer working day than last year. However, according to the VDA Federation of Automobile Manufacturers, the number of fully and partially electric vehicles registered increased by almost 23% to just over 64,000 units.
Author: Christian Kel Germany
Kallanish.com