Don’t ban petrol cars, says BMW’s sustainability chief

Banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is not the answer to addressing the global climate crisis, BMW’s sustainability chief has said.

Thomas Becker also insisted that Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay the UK’s ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars until 2035 would not change BMW’s electric vehicle production plans.

“We didn’t support it in the outset. We are critical towards banning,” he said. “We want people to spend a lot of money on our products because they say ‘It’s the best product for me’. Because they want it and not because they have to.”

Becker, BMW’s global head of sustainability and mobility, said that policymakers should focus on incremental targets in the coming years rather than imposing a