Volkswagen top executive Herbert Diess said cars will only have a future in inner city areas if cycling is a key part of how people get around.
"Biking is fun, healthy and good for the environment," the chief executive of Europe’s biggest carmaker said on Twitter Wednesday, adding to recent environmentally focused pronouncements. "Overcrowded urban centres will only accept cars - even with zero emissions - if bikes have enough room in the mobility mix."
The tweet, part of a LinkedIn post promoting a project allowing workers in VW’s headquarters Wolfsburg to bike onto the factory premises to get to work, received mixed reactions. "Do you want to sell cars or bikes?" one comment read, while others praised the manager’s progressiveness.
Radfahren macht Spaß, ist gesund und gut für die Umwelt. In überfüllten urbanen Zentren wird das Auto - auch das emissionsfreie E-Auto - zukünftig nur dann akzeptiert, wenn das Rad genug Raum im Mobilitätsmix hat. https://t.co/wlfchzkG8m pic.twitter.com/oIM5xJo5W4
— Herbert Diess (@Herbert_Diess) October 6, 2021
Diess’s comments are in line with his plea for a new German government to include climate reforms in its program, after the carmaker earlier this year outlined the industry’s most ambitious goals on electrification.
