The truth about Europe's ghost study: why Germans are attacking electric vehicles

Se spomnite videotek? Manual transmission in cars faces a similar fate The manual gearbox in cars is far from disappearing overnight, but the direction of automotive industry development is becoming increasingly clear. Electric and hybrid vehicles are accelerating the shift toward automatic transmissions, which are reflected in changes to driving license rules as well. Electrification accelerates the end of manual gearboxes Automatic transmissions are becoming more common in new cars, and for electric vehicles, they have practically become the standard. Many hybrids also use automatic transmissions, while manufacturers are gradually phasing out manual gearboxes even in classic gasoline and diesel models. The reason is simple. Modern cars are designed so that drivers don’t need to worry about shifting gears. In electric vehicles, the traditional combination of clutch and gear lever has largely become a thing of the past. Although some automatic transmissions allow for manual selection of gears, the driver experience remains different. A driver can manually engage gears, but does not use a clutch. Driving rules are changing too The transition to automatics is not happening just in the automotive industry. Rules related to driving licenses are also adapting. Spain has announced a major change that will take effect in 2029. Drivers who pass their driving test with an automatic car will be able to obtain permission to drive both automatic and manual cars after at least seven hours of additional training. Such a regulation would represent a significant departure from current practice. In the European Union, drivers who complete the practical part of their driving test with an automatic car usually receive a restriction marked with code 78. This allows driving only automatic cars, not manual ones. Code 78 could become less of a barrier Current regulations can mean considerable limitations for drivers. If they want to later drive a car with a manual transmission, they must remove this restriction according to the rules of the country where they obtained their license. The proposed Spanish change would simplify the process. Instead of retaking the entire driving test, a shorter additional training session and practical test would be required to switch to manual cars. This is part of broader adaptation of European rules to new conditions in the automotive market, where automatic transmissions are gaining a larger share year by year. Why are manufacturers abandoning manual gearboxes? Automatic transmissions offer many advantages for both manufacturers and drivers. Driving is simpler and more comfortable, and modern systems can be highly efficient. Moreover, the development of electric and hybrid powertrains reduces the need for traditional manual gearboxes. In electric vehicles, the drivetrain is fundamentally different, making the traditional driver combination of clutch, gear lever, and gear selection lose its significance. Manufacturers therefore have fewer reasons to develop and install manual gearboxes. Demand for them is lower, and technological development moves towards automation and electrification. Manual gearboxes are not going away yet Despite this, manual gearboxes will not disappear from roads anytime soon. They will remain particularly important in the used car market, where supply of manual cars will stay large for years to come. Manual gearboxes will likely persist in certain sports and automotive models, where shifting and the feeling of direct control hold special value for buyers. But for new cars, the trend is undeniable. The share of cars with automatic transmissions is growing, while manual gearboxes are moving from mass standard to a specialty. For future drivers, automatics will be self-evident Future generations taking their driving tests in a few years will probably see automatic transmissions as completely normal. Clutch and gear lever might become elements of the driving experience that require special learning. Volkswagen's plan: gasoline and diesel for the wealthy, electricity for the masses Volkswagen outlines its vision for the future of automobiles. A buyer of a small, affordable car might almost automatically drive electric in a few years. A buyer of a luxury sports car, however, would still be able to fill up with gasoline, start the engine, and listen to its sound. Internal combustion engines wouldn't necessarily disappear. They would become more exclusive. Such a direction was indicated in a conversation with German Auto Motor und Sport by Werner Tietz, a member of the development board of the Volkswagen Group. In large European mass-market segments, long-term withdrawal of gasoline and diesel engines is expected. In the premium and luxury parts of the market, however, space for their continued existence is seen, especially in cars where the engine is not just a means of propulsion, but part of their identity. Why would gasoline engines first disappear from cheap cars? At first glance, one might expect the opposite. Electric cars were once expensive. They were bought mainly by wealthier customers and technology enthusiasts, while a simple gasoline-powered car represented a cost-effective solution for the masses. But economics are changing. Stricter environmental and emissions regulations mean that developing classical internal combustion engines and all systems needed to clean exhaust gases is technically more demanding and costly. For a car priced around €20,000, additional production costs of thousands of euros can be very significant, whereas for a six-figure sports car, these extra costs are much less relevant. And here lies a big change. Electric propulsion could become a cost-effective mass-market technology, while internal combustion engines would be a technology whose additional costs would be willing to pay primarily buyers of more expensive cars. There is another reason, according to experts. A buyer of a small city car needs the engine mostly to get from one point to another. For many sports cars, however, the engine is part of the reason for purchasing the car. Tietz specifically talks about "iconic models" that shape the identity of individual brands. He doesn’t name specific models, but within the Volkswagen group, it’s easy to find candidates. The most obvious is the Porsche 911. Porsche has already adapted its strategy to a slower transition to fully electric cars. Cayenne and Panamera are expected to remain available with internal combustion engines and plug-in hybrid powertrains deep into the 2030s. Porsche's first chairman, Michael Leiters, stated in June that there will be no fully electric Porsche 911. Instead, a new powerful hybrid powertrain plays an important role in the future of the model. Porsche isn't abandoning electrification, but for models where the classic powertrain is a key part of their identity, an electric car is no longer presented as the sole final goal. Volkswagen, meanwhile, is betting on small electric cars. In Europe, the number of orders for fully electric cars from the group increased by over 50 percent compared to the end of 2025. Battery-electric cars already account for more than 30 percent of Volkswagen’s order book. Particularly important is the new family of smaller electric cars, including the Volkswagen ID. Polo, Škoda Epiq, and Cupra Raval. Such cars show where the mass European market could move. The segment currently dominated by gasoline-powered models such as the Polo, Golf, T-Roc, and comparable cars could gradually shift more and more toward electric propulsion. Tietz notes significant regional differences. The Chinese market is rapidly moving toward electric cars and vehicles with electric propulsion and extenders. In the United States, classic internal combustion engines and plug-in hybrids still play a much bigger role. A car developed in Wolfsburg must therefore be prepared for several different automotive markets. That is also why Volkswagen no longer speaks simply about one propulsion type that will dominate in a few years. Germany's attack on electric cars Germany is trying at all costs to protect its automobile industry. Local political and conservative academic circles have launched a new offensive against the environmental goals of the European Union. They rely mainly on a recent study from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), which questions the actual emission savings from electric vehicles. Despite media hype, international experts warn that it is clearly adjusting reality and using outdated data to pressure Brussels and preserve internal combustion engines. German conservative politician Friedrich Merz and right-leaning media, led by tabloid Bild, have seized upon the findings of researchers from TUM, who claim that the transition to electric vehicles by 2030 in the EU will not bring 188 million tons of CO2 savings, as Brussels predicts, but only about 80 million tons. According to their claims, electric vehicles would be on average only 41 percent cleaner than those powered by fossil fuels throughout their life cycle. Distorting facts President of the university TUM, Thomas Hofmann, opposes a complete ban on the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines and calls for so-called technological openness, a mantra of conservative circles that has been increasingly used in German automotive jargon as a call to prolong the lifespan of traditional engines and protect the status quo, regardless of the impact on the environment. The university thus proposes establishing a new, complex regulation of vehicle life cycles at the level of the EU, which should come into force by 2032. Researchers calculated the average of 19 different studies with 47 scenarios, giving the latest analyses equal weight as older research. The latter, however, are based on outdated and significantly dirtier mixes of electricity sources. However, this offensive reveals a known and problematic German tendency to distort facts when it comes to solving the issue of their most important, albeit increasingly less competitive industrial sector. The German automotive industry, which has delayed the development of electric mobility for too long, is now resorting to academically supported lobbying just before the autumn decisions of the European Union on the new automotive package. The demand for considering emissions from production, raw material acquisition, and recycling sounds reasonable on paper, but in practice, it is used mainly as a bureaucratic tool to reduce the