According to German Environmental Aid (DUH), the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is issuing an increasing number of individual permits for the registration of oversized pickup trucks from the USA. The DHU criticizes this violation of both European safety and environmental standards. The KBA has so far ignored DHU's requests for access to the documents under the Environmental Information Act (UIG). As a result, the DUH has now filed a lawsuit for failure to act with the Schleswig Administrative Court.
Of the total of 27 individual registrations in the 4.025 EU member states in 2023, more than 80 percent (3.291 individual registrations) will be in Germany, and of these, 2.944 will be for the Dodge Ram pickup truck. Last year, the umbrella organization of the DUH, Transport and Environment (T&E), already warned the EU Commission that individual registrations are circumventing European standards.
“To protect the environment and climate and the safety of all road users, we have binding standards in Europe that all type-approved vehicles must comply with. However, oversized monster pickups are being allowed to bypass these standards and be approved by the Federal Motor Transport Authority,” says Jürgen Resch, Federal Managing Director of DUH. “ Immense climate damage and an increased risk of serious traffic accidents are being accepted as a consequence.”
The DUH calls on the Federal Ministry of Transport to close this role as a gateway. The next federal government must advocate at the EU level against the special treatment of monster pickup trucks, and the future Ministry of Finance must, in view of the particularly high CO2 emissions, impose an adjusted vehicle tax and a higher assessment rate in the first year of new registration. In the short term, parking restrictions and significantly higher parking fees for oversized vehicles should also be introduced. These measures could put a stop to this trend, the DUH believes.
Individual vehicle approvals are actually intended only for special-purpose vehicles, but they are increasingly being misused for production vehicles. For example, the extremely high CO2 emissions of an individually approved Ram pickup truck are not counted towards the fleet averages of the manufacturer group Stellantis, even though the brand belongs to Stellantis. This monster pickup emits between 300 and 910 grams of CO2 per kilometer, three to nine times more than the average of all newly sold passenger cars. Several EU safety regulations, which have been in effect since July 2024, are also being circumvented. These regulations concern improved crash protection for vulnerable road users, automated emergency braking and lane keeping assist systems, speed assistance systems, and data storage systems for accidents. These regulations were introduced to increase the safety of all road users. The fact that they are suspended for particularly dangerous models under the individual approval process contradicts these objectives. Furthermore, emissions tests under on-road conditions are not required under the individual approval process.
Overall, the number of pick-ups registered in Germany has grown in just four years from just under 65.000 in 2020 to more than 106.000 at the beginning of 2024 – an increase of more than 60 percent.
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