If the German car industry has learned from the emissions scandal that what it does has social relevance beyond the beneficial and joyful individual mobility – deaths from emissions or livable inner cities, notorious climate protection failures in the transport sector or pioneering role in electric cars – then it would re won a lot. I have a slight hope. Because many engineers who come into the industry today because of electric drives or software, many young employees who don’t have a car but do have a bicycle, they all bring a different spirit to the industry. Winterkorn is not an idol or an authority for this new generation. Rather, he is a deterrent example. And that’s already a start.
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