https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/24/uk-france-and-germany-lobbied-for-flawed-car-emissions-tests-documents-reveal https://www.theguardian.com/en

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/24/uk-france-and-germany-lobbied-for-flawed-car-emissions-tests-documents-reveal https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/24/uk-franc... I guess they try to sell the "our party cares about the environment" to win (i.e. lie to) voters, but at the same time they care about their industries, and old emission standards are easier to comply to. I can imagine they know research for better emissions is hard, but building cars to antiquated standards is easy and can keep more people employed... A bit like Angela Merkel, after many years of not wanting to, suddenly agreeing to a timeline to shut down German nuclear power plants a few days after Fukushima and a few days before a state election (her stunt didn't help, the Greens still won a majority of the votes).