The production and sales figures of the auto industry plunged dramatically during the first quarter of 2009. Yet the current automotive crisis is not merely the result of an economic downturn. It has revealed structural flaws within the industry itself. Climate change and dwindling fossil fuel resources, but also evolving mobility requirements in urban areas call for different cars – and a different kind of mobility. Integrated transportation systems that combine the strengths of a variety of modes of transportation while compensating for their respective shortcomings will be the only perspective for adequate efficiency and flexibility. Transforming the automobile into an element of a comprehensive range of mobility options is crucial in this regard.
Mobility researchers Andreas Knie and Weert Canzler have produced a strategy paper on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation analyzing the current crisis and outlining their vision of the “mobility products of the future”.

Publication series on ecology, Volume 4:
Green Solutions to the Auto Crisis
From Auto Makers to Mobility Service Providers
A strategy paper by Weert Canzler and Andreas Knie
Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation
Berlin, Nov. 2009, 32 pages
ISBN 978-3-86928-013-4

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin, Tel. 030-285340, Fax: 030-28534109, E-mail: info@boell.de Internet: www.boell.de

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