The city of Hamburg is the first to penalize older diesel vehicles in an effort to improve air quality. The partial diesel ban was cheered by environmental groups and represents a blow to the auto industry.
Image: Reuters/F. Bimmer
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Hamburg's partial diesel ban begins on Thursday, forbidding drivers with old diesel engines from transiting in two major streets.
Hamburg has become the first German city to limit diesel cars on a regular basis, since a Federal Administrative Court ruled that German states, cities and municipalities have the right to impose such bans.
The partial ban represents a victory for environmental groups, who have advocated for improved air quality in German cities. But it is a blow to automakers, reeling from a diesel manipulation scandal that has rocked the industry and led to a decrease in consumer demand for diesel engine cars.
Older diesel cars and trucks will be banned from a 580 meter stretch of the Max-Brauer-Allee, a major artery that runs on the northwest side of the city, while older diesel trucks will be banned from a 1.6 kilometer section of Stresemannstrasse, a major road that enters the city from the northwest.
There will be some exceptions made for residents and the city will implement alternate route plans for people to avoid the two roads.
The ban affects all diesel cars that do not meet Euro-6 emissions standards and violators will be fined at €25 ($30) for cars and €75 for trucks.
But in the early stages of the plan, police will perform random stops and will issue warnings if necessary. Gradually, after a transition period, the city will turn to full enforcement of the fines.
Dieselgate: A timeline
VW's emissions scandal plunged the automaker into its deepest crisis ever. It brought with it everlasting damage to VW's reputation and massive fees and penalties — not to mention compensation claims from car owners.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
The disaster unfolds — September 2015
About two weeks after Volkswagen admitted behind closed doors to US environmental regulators that it had installed cheating software in some 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide, the Environmental Protection Agency shared that information with the public. It was September 18, 2015. The ensuing crisis would eventually take a few unexpected turns.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Spata
The boss must go, long live the boss — September 2015
Volkswagen's then-CEO Martin Winterkorn (above) had little choice but to step down several days after news of the scandal broke. In September 2015, he tendered his resignation, but retained his other posts within the Volkswagen Group. Winterkorn's successor was Matthias Müller. Until taking the reins at VW, Müller had been the chairman at Porsche, a VW subsidiary.
Image: picture-alliance/Sven Simon
Raiding headquarters — October 2015
Regulators in the US weren't the only ones investigating VW. Authorities in Lower Saxony, the German state in which VW is based, were also scrutinizing the company. On October 8 2015, state prosecutors raided VW's headquarters along with several other corporate locations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Steffen
Hell breaks loose — January 2016
On January 4, 2016, the US government filed a lawsuit against VW in Detroit, accusing the German automaker of fraud and violations of American climate protection regulations. The lawsuit sought up to $46 billion for violations of the Clean Air Act.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Burgi
Quit or forced out? — March 2016
In March 2016, the head of VW in the US, Michael Horn, resigned. In the initial days and weeks after the scandal broke, he was the one US authorities turned to for information. He issued an official apology on behalf of the automaker, asking for the public's forgiveness.
Image: Getty Images/C. Somodevilla
Settlement — October 2016
On October 25 2016, a US judge approved a final settlement that would have VW pay $15.3 billion. In addition, affected cars would be retrofitted with better, non-deceptive hardware and software, or else VW would buy them back completely from customers.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Pleul
Imitators — July 2017
When dieselgate first emerged in 2015, analysts said it was likely other car makers were also cheating tests. But it wasn't until 2017 that other companies were targeted in probes. In July, German authorities launched investigations into luxury car makers Porsche and Daimler for allegedly cheating emissions tests. Others, such as Audi and Chrysler, have also been hit by similar allegations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Kraufmann
Public still supportive — December 2017
Despite dieselgate, VW has managed to keep the emissions scandal from utterly tarnishing its image. According to several polls, between 55 to 67 percent of Germans continue to trust the automaker. In the US, polls show that roughly 50 percent still believe the German company produces worthwhile vehicles.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Klose
Fuming over monkeys — January 2018
In late January, however, VW suffered another heavy blow over reports that the company experimented on monkeys and made the animals inhale diesel fumes. To make matters worse, a separate experiment that had humans inhale relatively harmless nitrogen dioxide was revealed at the same time. Some media wrongly interpreted this to mean humans were also inhaling toxic fumes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gentsch
Canadian court demands millions — January 2020
Years after the scandal that caused Volkswagen to pay CAN$2.4 billion (US$1.83 billion), a court in Toronto order a further fine of CAN$196.5 million. Volkswagen pleaded guilty of violating in environmental laws. Prosecutor Tom Lemon noted that the fine was "26 times the highest fine ever for a Canadian environmental offence."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Knipping
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Greens cheer
German Green Party leader Cem Özdemir praised the city's move and hoped for a ripple effect. "Hamburg is now moving forward, I am sure other cities will follow," Özdemir said.
The environmental advocacy group Greenpeace celebrated the partial ban. "Hamburg gave hope to hundreds of thousands of people who live along major roads and who have to breathe dirty air on a daily basis," the organization's spokesman, Niklas Schinerl, said.
Schinerl added that symbolic gestures were not enough and that cities needed to move on to invest in alternatives to car, such as mass transit buses, rail, and expanding cycling paths.
The German Pro-Rail Alliance praised the implementation of the ban and used the opportunity to promote the investment and expansion of rail in metropolitan areas as the best medium to longer-term solution.
