The giants of Germany's flagship sector such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have cast doubt on the EU target as they struggle to build up competitive electric vehicle businesses against Chinese rivals like BYD.

Ahead of a summit to be held on Thursday with representatives from the automotive sector, Merz told the ntv channel that he thought the EU ban was "wrong".

Last month the EU pledged to fast-track a review of the 2035 target after pressure from carmakers.

"I don't want Germany to be one of the countries supporting this wrong ban," Merz said.

However, he admitted that the issue was "still being discussed" with his junior coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

The SPD Environment Minister Carsten Schneider was "not yet convinced" about the need to abandon the target, Merz said, but added that he hoped the government would come to an agreed position before Thursday's summit.

jsk/rlp

Volkswagen

BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG

Mercedes-Benz Group

BYD COMPANY