IAA Mobility 2025: Uncertainty instead of a mobility transition – Federal Taxi Association criticizes political flip-flopping over the combustion engine phase-out

After months of wrangling and contradictory statements from government representatives, it remains unclear, according to Michael Oppermann, managing director of BVTM, what Germany's future powertrain strategy should look like in concrete terms.

"The federal government has been sending contradictory signals for years. One moment the phase-out of combustion engines is adopted, then it is called into question again, suspended, or watered down via backdoor exceptions," Oppermann criticizes. "For an industry like ours, which has to make investment decisions and rely on a stable policy framework, this uncertainty is untenable."

Taxi companies need planning certainty

Especially for taxi companies that regularly renew their fleets and rely on economically viable solutions, the political back-and-forth is a real problem. Funding programs for e-mobility are being changed at short notice or scrapped, charging infrastructure is inadequate in many places — and now even doubts about the phase-out date for combustion engines?

“Our members are right to ask what they can actually still rely on,” Oppermann continued. “The switch to alternative powertrains is not an end in itself — it has to be economically viable, reliably funded and clearly supported politically.”