Envoy defends German cars against Jairam Ramesh’s attack

Germany Saturday strongly objected to environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s scathing attack on German luxury cars like Mercedes Benz and BMW and asserted that German automakers are known for ground-breaking fuel efficiency standards. 

“It is very difficult to imagine that Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, has made such specific comments on fuel technology with reference to German automotive manufacturers,” Germany’s ambassador Thomas M Matussek said in a statement.

Underlining that the German auto industry has “the most outstanding expertise in the area of engine development,” Matussek said the German automotive technology is far advanced in reducing both fuel consumption and fuel emissions.

“The German industry is also proud to have some of the most sustainable car companies in the world who have pioneered CO2 emission cuts and have next generation fuel efficiency standards in engines,” he said, while highlighting Germany’s success in reducing CO2 emissions.

“Leading German automotive manufacturers are already engaged in developing ground breaking fuel efficiency standards which may define how cars of tomorrow may be conceptualised,” he said.

At a UN function, Ramesh Friday said people should not be encouraged to buy vehicles such as powerful German luxury cars and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and said driving big-engined luxury models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz in India was “criminal”.

“The luxurious growth of large-size vehicles like SUVs is really a growth of concern, use of vehicles like SUVs and BMW in countries like India is criminal,” he said. Meanwhile Ramesh’s comment has breathed new life into an old environmentalist campaign on its way to nowhere. Environmentalists, led by the Delhi-based Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), have been campaigning for more than a decade against the government’s policy of levying lighter taxes on diesel, which emits around ten times more soot-like matter compared to petrol.

“CSE commends environment minister Jairam Ramesh for slamming increase in sports utility vehicles and use of cheap and toxic diesel,” said the CSE, which was at one time sued by Tata Motors for its anti-diesel campaign.

Anti-diesel campaigns have a long history in the country. CSE was at the forefront of the ‘clean Delhi’ campaign that ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court banning big diesel vehicles in the city and the closure of many of Delhi’s industrial plants in the last decade.

Diesel, like kerosene, is not a ‘middle distillate’ of crude oil — implying that it contains a higher proportion of carbon and a lower proportion of hydrogen when compared to ‘light distillates’ like petrol. Due to this, internal combustion engines of vehicles find it harder to burn all the carbon in diesel when they are in operation.

As a result, the unburned carbon and other impurities tend to pass out of the vehicle as ‘particulate matter’ — which is negligible in petrol and gas.