Ten German cities considerably exceed EU nitrogen oxide (NOx) limits, making diesel driving bans more likely in 2018, according to calculations by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), reports Der Tagesspiegel.

“Our results for 2017 show that neither software updates […] nor buyer’s premiums have led to extraordinary [emission] reductions” and driving bans are inevitable, the institute said, according to the newspaper.

Environment minister Barbara Hendricks is invited to a “last opportunity” meeting by the EU Commission to show how Germany intends to comply with the EU’s air quality standards on 30 January, according to Cleanenergywire.org.

A crucial ruling by Germany’s Federal Administrative Court expected on 22 February could determine whether German cities could use diesel driving bans to stay within EU air quality limits.

The current crisis weighs heavily on the makers of the most striking symbols of the country’s post-Second World War rise to being an economic powerhouse – the Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, or Audi luxury cars ‘Made in Germany’. But the government also wants to safeguard the economic strength of a sector whose 1,300 companies employ more than 800,000 people, with sales totalling more than 400 billion euros in 2015, and create the basis for some of Germany’s wealthiest regions.