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German coalition to boost EV demand, vouches for converting plants to defence
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Germany's coalition supports EV incentives, plant conversion for defence, and tax breaks until 2035 to boost industry growth.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's new government pledged support for its car industry while also vouching for converting available plants for defence, a document on the coalition agreement reached by the country's conservatives and Social Democrats and seen by Reuters showed.
The parties planned to provide purchase incentives for electric cars, including plug-in hybrids and cars fitted with range extenders to boost an EV's battery, and promised tax discounts for company cars including an exemption from vehicle tax for electric cars to last until 2035.
The new government will also examine whether it can support converting and upgrading surplus car plants for use by the defence industry, as defence companies seek more capacity amid a Europe-wide push to ramp up production of military equipment in the face of waning support from the United States.
"The defence industry needs to grow very quickly and in a scalable manner," the document said.
The government will also make an "active effort" to ward off emissions fines, the document said. The EU - with German backing - previously loosened emissions targets when carmakers said the looming fines would take money away from their transition to electrification.
It will also provide support for filling stations for new hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles, it said, without providing details.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Ludwig Burger)
The article discusses Germany's coalition plans to boost electric vehicle demand and convert car plants for defence use.
The government plans to provide purchase incentives and tax discounts for electric vehicles until 2035.
The government will examine converting surplus car plants for defence industry use to increase capacity.
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