Could Stuttgart ban diesels?

A fanciful green motion to ban diesel passenger cars in the hometown of some of the world’s most prestigious car-makers could soon become a reality.

Mercedes-Benz, Bosch and Porsche are facing the ignominy of having their diesel engines banned in their own hometown of Stuttgart, in the Baden-Wurttembergstate of Germany.

A bowl-shaped city that frequently visits the top-five lists for Europe’s most polluted air, Stuttgart’s administrative court just landed a brutal blow to their hopes of continued strong diesel sales.

A judge on the court, Judge Wolfgang Kern, last week ruled in favour of an environmental group, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, by saying a ban on all pre-EU6 diesel cars was the only way to make Stuttgart’s air quality safe again.

Deutsche Umwelthilfe is attempting to clean up the country’s air quality, particularly the diesel-bred, smog-maker that is NOx, in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal.

"From 2010 until today, authorities have failed to meet their duty on lowering emissions levels," Kern said during his deliberations.

"Driving restrictions are legally enforceable and in the court's view a proportionate measure because protection of health outweighs the right to property and freedom to act for vehicle owners."

Car-makers in Germany already have their backs to the wall over diesel software scandals, plummeting diesel sales and eroded public confidence in their ethics, and having their own hometown court rule in favour of banning their cars is likely to ripple throughout other German cities facing similar court cases.

"The judge has recommended broad diesel driving bans in Stuttgart - this is a message to the carmakers that selling dirty diesels is finished," Deutsche Umwelthife leader, Juergen Resch, said.

"Diesel cars must be upgraded beyond software fixes, with the carmakers paying for these measures."

Germany’s Transport Ministry (KBA) is also coming down hard on its carmakers after allowing the Dieselgate scandal to fester for a decade without either noticing or reacting. In recent weeks it has forced Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche to recall both petrol and diesel cars to fix software issues.

Mercedes-Benz recalled three million cars and the Volkswagen Group four million (including Audi and Porsche models), all to fit them with rewritten software code aimed at reducing NOx emissions.

In a statement, Daimler reacted swiftly and brusquely, with communications boss Jorg Howe insisting it would hurt trade, the economy and Stuttgart’s already notorious traffic jams.

"Driving bans are fundamentally not a solution," he wrote. "There are other measures that could more easily, efficiently and quickly reduce fine dust particles and nitrogen oxide."

The almost-certain appeal to the court’s decision will be heard by Germany’s ultimate Federal Administrative Court, and a confirmation of the Stuttgart decision will let other cities, like Hamburg and Berlin, a freer hand to clean up their own air.

In March, a court in Munich already paved the way to a diesel ban by ordering the city to make it a dirty-air contingency.

All of Germany’s car-makers have relied – and continue to rely – on diesel to lower their fleet CO2 emissions, though looming mild-hybrid petrol technology is likely to reduce the need.

Diesel sales in Germany fell from more than 50 per cent before the 2015 Dieselgate scandal to 46 per cent last year and sales continue to fall, but it’s consumer confidence in the car-makers that is hurting as much as anything else.

Instead of using the storm of Dieselgate to reveal their own darkest secrets, Audi was caught in 2016 with its own V6 diesel cheat, Daimler and Opel were discredited with a thermal-switching scandal and now all Germany’s car-makers and major suppliers have been caught up in allegations they colluded over AdBlue (Urea) tank sizes.
BMW, in particular, is screaming that it has done nothing wrong.