FLENSBURG (dpa-AFX) - How clean cars are on German roads depends heavily on where those roads are located. Depending on the registration district, the proportion of cars with relatively outdated emissions technology ranges from one-third to one-tenth, according to an analysis of data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority by the news agency dpa. And even among the cleanest cars, there are big differences.
According to the KBA, the highest proportion of vehicles registered under the old and less stringent Euro 1 to Euro 4 emissions standards is in Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony. There they account for 33.7 percent. Elbe-Elster and Duisburg Stadt follow with 31.7 and 30.7 percent. Emmendingen, Nienburg, Gelsenkirchen Stadt, Spree Neiße, Herne Stadt, and Gorlitz also have figures above 30 percent.
Car cities have an advantage
At the other end of the scale is Wolfsburg with a figure of 10.9 percent, followed by Wiesbaden with 15.4 percent, Suhl (15.9) and Munich district (16.1) and city (17.8). However, Wolfsburg and Munich, at least, have an unfair advantage as the headquarters of major car manufacturers, as large numbers of relatively new company cars are registered there, which skew the figures toward cleaner cars.
And some of these cars are not even driven in the district where they are registered. This is particularly evident in Wolfsburg, home to VW: statistically, there are 973 cars per 1,000 residents – more than one car per adult.
Accordingly, car cities are at the forefront when it comes to particularly clean cars. In terms of the proportion of purely electric cars and vehicles with the relatively new Euro 6 emissions standard, Wolfsburg leads the way with 77.2 percent, followed by Wiesbaden with 70.6 percent, which has a strikingly high proportion of company cars.
Munich city and state rank third and fourth with 64.8 and 64 percent, ahead of the Main-Taunus district and the headquarters of Audi and Mercedes, Ingolstadt and Stuttgart, which are in the low 60s. Income probably plays a role in some cases: in wealthy areas, more new and therefore cleaner cars are purchased. /ruc/DP/he
