Olaf Lies presents the future strategy for the Lower Saxony automotive industry

Olaf Lies presents the future strategy for the Lower Saxony automotive industry

Today, October 8, 2025, there is an important appointment on the agenda in the Lower Saxony state parliament. Prime Minister Olaf Lies will make a government statement on the current situation in the automotive industry from 9 a.m. He will refer to the paper “Future Pact for Mobility 2035”, which has been heavily discussed in recent weeks. Lies himself emphasized in September that the idea of ​​only selling electric cars from 2035 was “unfortunately unrealistic”. He is in favor of allowing new combustion engines even after this date, which is met with resistance from the Green Party's coalition partners. They are clearly against a move away from combustion engines and represent an alternative view of the challenges facing the industry. TIME reports.

In the run-up to the declaration, Economics Minister Grant Hendrik Tonne also thought about the future of the automotive and supplier industries. He called for a realignment of the strategy until 2035 and emphasized the need for adjustments to previous plans. He made it clear that Germany must represent a uniform position towards the European Union. Tonne also said that the debate about the “end of combustion engines” should be ended in order to focus on pragmatic solutions. He acknowledged that there was weak sales of both electric vehicles and combustion engines, which made adjustments necessary. E-mobility remains the leading technology and battery-electric vehicles have a promising future. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics, Labor, Transport and Digitalization also emphasizes that CO2 reduction should be achieved through a higher proportion of bio or synthetic fuels.

The topics of the car summit

In view of the challenges, a car summit has also been announced, at which suppliers will also be present. The aim of this summit is to secure jobs and strengthen industry. The discussion about expanding the charging infrastructure and purchasing incentives for electric cars is considered urgent. The fleet limit values ​​should also be monitored annually in the future in order to meet the commitment to European CO2 targets while at the same time maintaining a certain degree of flexibility.

A particularly tragic topic is also being discussed in the state parliament: the case of 16-year-old Liana, who was killed at the train station in Friedland. The AfD is calling for an investigative committee to shed light on how the Lower Saxony authorities and courts dealt with the suspect, a rejected asylum seeker from Iraq. Even if the AfD expressed the desire for a committee of inquiry, it does not have enough votes to set it up on its own.