(Bloomberg) — Volkswagen AG top executive Herbert Diess said cars will only have a future in inner city areas if cycling is a key part of how people get around.
“Biking is fun, healthy and good for the environment,” the chief executive of Europe’s biggest carmaker said on Twitter Wednesday, adding to recent environmentally focused pronouncements. “Overcrowded urban centers will only accept cars — even with zero emissions — if bikes have enough room in the mobility mix.”
The tweet, part of a LinkedIn post promoting a project allowing workers in VW’s headquarters Wolfsburg to bike onto the factory premises to get to work, received mixed reactions. “Do you want to sell cars or bikes?” one comment read, while others praised the manager’s progressiveness.
Diess’s comments are in line with his plea for a new German government to include climate reforms in its program, after the carmaker earlier this year outlined the industry’s most ambitious goals on electrification.
Posting on Twitter one day after the elections, the 62-year-old sketched out a 10-point wish list including calls to expand renewables, curb coal, raise the price of CO2 and scrap subsidies for gasoline and diesel fuel.
VW’s namesake brand has said it plans to stop selling combustion cars in Europe between 2033 and 2035, followed by the U.S. and China at a later stage. VW’s luxury Audi brand sees continued demand for combustion engines in China beyond 2033, but intends to fade them out in other markets by then.
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