Merkel Complained to California in 2010 About Diesel Rules

German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained five years ago to California’s Air Resources Board that the state’s stringent nitrogen oxide standards for diesels were hurting German carmakers.

CARB confirms a Wirtschafswoche report that Merkel delivered the protest in person to Director Mary Nichols in April 2010. Nichols tells the German magazine she was surprised that Merkel had such specific knowledge of the NOx issue. Nichols adds that no other politician has ever made such an “intervention against our environmental laws.”

The report raises questions about whether the German government was aware of Volkswagen AG’s struggles over the past six years to comply with U.S. diesel standards. VW is by far the largest seller of diesel-powered passenger vehicles in the American market. 

In September the Environmental Protection Agency, in collaboration with CARB, revealed that VW had sold 482,000 diesels in the U.S. equipped with software to cheat NOx emission tests. EPA says VW began using the software in 2009. The company later admitted using similar software in 10.5 million other vehicles sold in Europe and other markets.