Climate groups including Greenpeace and Deutsche Umwelthilfe called on the eve of the Frankfurt show for sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) to be banned as part of a wider campaign to curb pollution by the vehicle industry.
Carmakers should stop developing large, heavy cars and vehicles with combustion engines, the Exit consortium said at a press conference on the eve of the Frankfurt event, Reuters reported.
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"As long as SUVs rather than small electric vehicles dominate automotive transport, cars will remain the problem child for us climate activists," the consortium told the news agency.
Volkswagen's chief executive Herbert Diess had agreed to meet activists from Sand in the Gearbox for a debate about the auto industry on Monday night.
VW plans numerous hybrid and electric vehicles in the wake of a diesel emissions cheating scandal which has cost the company over EUR30bn (US$33bn) in refit costs and fines.
"These fake arguments brought forward by the industry are exactly the reason why we are taking to the streets," a spokeswoman for Sand in the Gearbox told Reuters.
The group has called for a blockade of the Frankfurt show and increased use of bicycles.
Activists say job losses among the auto industry's 800,000 workers in Germany could be recouped via extra investments in public transport and railways, the report noted.
