Speaking to Fortune, the premium brand’s chief engineer believes people won’t suffer from lead-foot syndrome in the future, anyway, since otherwise they would drain their battery too quickly. Echoing his industry colleagues’ opposition, he too opposed a ban, framing the issue as an intervention in personal liberty. “It truly is a USP made in Germany,” agreed Audi technical development head Oliver Hoffmann, using a Marketing 101 acronym for unique selling point-a competitive differentiator. In short, the Autobahn is deeply engrained in the domestic psyche. When the first Middle East oil crisis prompted the very first movement to put a limit on speeds, German motorist club ADAC rallied opposition to the cause with the slogan “Free roads for free citizens.” And Kraftwerk’s 1974 breakout album that put electronic music on the map borrowed inspiration and indeed its very name from the motorway. Together with the ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle, it stood for the Wirtschaftswunder, the economic miracle that rebuilt the country from rubble. The Autobahn became a beloved symbol of progress in postwar West Germany, even if it remains heavily tainted by its associations with the Nazi war effort. Why would an export nation ever want to so frivolously give this up?” “Because consumers think German cars must be built better in order to withstand the high speeds, psychologically it becomes a stamp of approval.
“Wherever you are from in the world, when you think of Germany, you think ‘Autobahn,’” said Ola Källenius, the Swedish-born boss of Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, last week at the Munich auto show. What worries the industry is not that in itself, however, but that the Greens might eventually succeed in instituting a longtime party proposal: a general speed limit that would end the era of people driving as fast as their cars can take them.įor automakers, the grave ramifications of this change could radiate far beyond the borders of the nation. 26 general election without the participation of the Greens. Most current polls show there is no realistic path to a stable government after the Sept.
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