BERLIN, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The federal government will provide motorists affected by the "dieselgate" scandal with clarity on the concrete measures adopted in response to looming driving bans in some German cities by the start of next week, Chancellor Angela Merkel promised on Monday.
Merkel's comments were made during a press conference Berlin held shortly after a closely watched summit attended by herself, transport minister Andreas Scheuer and representatives of leading automotive producers in Germany ended inconclusively.
Following the unilateral announcement of diesel driving bans in cities such as Hamburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt, the ruling "grand coalition" government has come under intense pressure to decide on whether it will force car makers to conduct so-called technical upgrades of diesel vehicles.
The upgrade would be introduced as an alternative and less disruptive means to reduce urban nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution levels.
Although the summit itself failed to produce a legislative breakthrough, Scheuer subsequently insisted that a decision on the issue would be "reached very shortly."
According to Scheuer, the government attached the greatest priority to creating incentives for vehicle owners to swap older diesel cars for newer, and supposedly cleaner, versions.
Whereas car makers point to such fleet renewal measures as the best solution to the "dieselgate" scandal, recent emissions testing conducted independently by the Environmental Action Germany (DUH) has concluded that even the newest Euro6 diesel motor types release 5.5 times more NOx emissions on average than permitted under European Union (EU) law.
The German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) estimates that diesel cars are responsible for more than 50 percent of harmful NOx emissions in Germany, levels which currently exceed EU limits in several of the country's major cities.
