The unusual lawsuit was not dismissed – but it is difficult to say how the legal dispute over more climate protection between an organic farmer and VW will end. Organic farmer Ulf Allhoff-Cramer received the adjournment by the Detmold district court on Friday with mixed feelings. “I’m glad that the court is continuing to negotiate,” said the 62-year-old. But the follow-up appointment scheduled for February 3, 2023 is quite late: “I’m sad that we’re losing half a year. We’re running out of time.”
The climate crisis is progressing “terribly quickly” and endangering the existence of many farms. The Volkswagen Group must finally take responsibility and change course more quickly than before.
With his lawsuit, Allhoff-Cramer wants to force the industry giant to stop selling cars and light commercial vehicles with internal combustion engines worldwide by 2030 at the latest. In May there was a first trial, which was sobering for the farmer: the presiding judge Manfred Pohlmeier had sentenced him to detention, so to speak. On Friday, the question arose as to what the chamber would say about the amended complaints. It was possible that she would dismiss the matter and dismiss the lawsuit. That was not the case.
The judge spoke for only a minute. He found part of the lawsuit – a motion to set VW percentage CO2 reduction targets – to be “not specific” enough. Pohlmeier also criticized other, more subordinate parts of the lawsuit. A VW spokeswoman later interpreted this attitude as “serious doubts” about the allegations. The company has moved to dismiss the complaint.
Allhoff-Cramer’s attorney Roda Verheyen assessed the judge’s statements differently. She was pleased that he was part of the lawsuit
– namely the application for the sales ban from 2030 – unmentioned
had left. Verheyen concluded that this application was admissible because it was not named: “That’s good, that’s a positive sign.”
The farmer is supported by the environmental organization Greenpeace. A similar case against Volkswagen is pending before the Braunschweig district court, where two Greenpeace directors and a Fridays for Future activist are suing. Other car manufacturers are also confronted with climate protection demands in various courts
– the German Environmental Aid, for example, is taking action against BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Final decisions are not yet foreseeable.
VW rejects the allegations in the Detmold proceedings and emphasizes its progress in e-mobility. In addition, the vast majority of CO2 emissions from cars lie within the sphere of influence of the driver and not the manufacturer. In addition, the concrete consequences of climate change for a small area cannot be precisely predicted, according to VW.
The question of binding phase-out dates for new combustion vehicles has long been a central point of contention between climate protectionists and the auto industry – also and especially in the case of Volkswagen. Greenpeace repeatedly accuses the largest European industrial company of not doing enough to combat global warming.
VW is continuously expanding its range of electric vehicles and also wants to gradually supply the plants with more green electricity. But the Wolfsburg-based company shy away from a fixed end date for the sale of classic diesel and petrol engines that would apply to all group subsidiaries and sales areas, citing regional differences.
Depending on the country and brand, the plans are different. In Norway, for example, the VW, Audi and Skoda-Importers will no longer import combustion engines from 2024. The sales-off there so far only refers to the core division, it is said from Wolfsburg. The following applies to the rest of Europe: “The Volkswagen brand will sell the last vehicle with a combustion engine between 2033 and 2035, Audi in 2033.”
The new VW CEO Oliver Blume wants to continue to meet the demand for diesel, petrol or natural gas vehicles “for many more years”, even if full electrification is to make the breakthrough in the long term. The EU Parliament and the EU Commission intend to ban the approval of new combustion engines from 2035. This does not apply to used cars with classic drives.
There have often been public disputes between Greenpeace and VW. Activists have organized multiple protests at the automaker’s main plant, where they lowered banners from buildings. Train tracks around the Wolfsburg factory site were also blocked.
In 2012, Greenpeace members hijacked a VW general meeting, and the chief supervisor at the time, Ferdinand Piëch, called them “troublemakers.” And to a TV commercial by VW with allusions to the Star Wars saga, the environmental organization had a satirical counter-spot shot in which it slandered the Volkswagen headquarters as the “Death Star”.
One of the more recent campaigns was the removal of hundreds of car keys from finished models at the VW plant in Emden in spring 2021, which then ended up on the Zugspitze in Bavaria. Greenpeace chose the neighboring Schneeferner glacier because it was particularly affected by climate change. The then VW boss Herbert Diess usually took the intimate enmity of both sides in a sporty way. On Twitter he wrote about the “invitation” to pick up the keys from the high mountains: “Gladly Zugspitze, but I can’t do it today – don’t want to use the plane. Soon in good weather?”
Deal burst: Porsche does not enter Formula 1 with Red Bull
The Formula 1 dream marriage between Porsche and Red Bull will not exist. The industry leader from Austria has brushed off the German sports car manufacturer. In an almost eight-line message on Friday, Porsche announced the end of all negotiations. “The premise was always a partnership at eye level, which includes not only an engine partnership but also the team. This could not be realized,” it said. “There was never a financial discussion. Porsche is a great brand. But the DNA is quite different,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner at motorsport.com.
For months there was speculation about Porsche’s entry into the currently dominant racing team in the top motorsport class for the 2026 season. The deal was supposed to be announced in July at Red Bull’s home race in Styria. Nothing came of it. But time was of the essence, and engine manufacturers had to register with the International Automobile Association by October 15th.
Audi, the other VW subsidiary, came first and announced about two weeks ago that it would start the 2026 season, the partner is still officially unknown. But it should be the Swiss Sauber racing team, which is currently as Alfa Romeo starts.
Porsche wanted to take off with Red Bull. In return, the company also wanted shares in the team of Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, which is likely to win both titles again this year and is currently the measure of all things in Formula 1 with world champion Max Verstappen.
There is talk of 50 percent shares that Porsche wanted. Of course, that would have guaranteed a corresponding say in the racing team, which celebrated its Formula 1 debut in 2005 as the successor to Jaguar. Since then, Horner (48) has led Red Bull Racing. At his side, Mateschitz intimate Helmut Marko (79), the head of motorsport at Red Bull, has an influence.
“The team is the biggest marketing asset for Red Bull worldwide – why should we strategically endanger that in the long term,” Horner recently emphasized. “Red Bull has always been an independent team, that’s one of our strengths and has been the cornerstone of what we’ve achieved and being able to react quickly. It’s part of our DNA.”
Group structures like Porsche, which wants to go public this year, were ultimately felt by the Red Bull bosses as a brake. Especially since the team is not dependent on an engine manufacturer. After partner Honda left at the end of 2021, Red Bull founded its own engine forge – Red Bull Powertrains.
The energy drink racing team uses the previously developed principles to build its own engine unit and continues to receive technical help from the Japanese. This agreement runs until the end of 2025. In order to be prepared for all eventualities afterwards, Red Bull has already brought in other high-ranking employees – including from Mercedes – for the engine project.
But what happens now with the Porsche plans? The VW subsidiary made it clear that entry into the premier class of motorsport is generally not ruled out if talks with Red Bull fail. With the comprehensive changes to the regulations from the 2026 season, the racing series remains “an attractive environment for Porsche that will continue to be monitored”. From then on, the hybrid engines will be operated with 100 percent sustainable fuel. The combustion engine in the unit should only contribute 50 percent of the power, the rest is electric. That fits with the realignment of the auto industry.
But Porsche doesn’t have much time left. The enrollment period is about a month from now. McLaren or Williams are now mentioned in the media as possible partners. Both are run by German team bosses. Andreas Seidl (McLaren) used to work successfully for Porsche, Jost Capito (Williams) for Volkswagen.
VW CEO Blume takes over the chairmanship of the supervisory board at the software subsidiary Cariad
After taking over the CEO position at Volkswagen, Oliver Blume will also take over the chairmanship of the supervisory board at the software subsidiary Cariad. In addition, the Annual General Meeting appointed Michael Steiner, Member of the Board of Management for Research and Development at Porsche AG, and Thomas Ulbrich, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development at the Volkswagen brand, to the Supervisory Board, as announced by Cariad SE. They will replace Herbert Diess and Arno Antlitz, who left the board at the end of August 2022.
The Cariad Supervisory Board consists of twelve members and is made up of equal numbers of shareholder representatives and employee representatives.
The VW software subsidiary recently had to struggle with delays, which former CEO Diess was also accused of. In addition to strategy, Blume will now primarily take care of Cariad as VW boss. The software subsidiary is of great importance for the Wolfsburg DAX group, since the proportion of software in future cars will continue to increase. In order to achieve a high added value here and to avoid possible dependencies on other groups, for example from the IT industry, or to keep them as low as possible, Cariad should develop a large part of the software used itself.
In XETRA trading, VW shares temporarily rose by 0.47 percent to EUR 146.80.
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