How Germany defines automotive performance could be in for a big change.

German Deputy Economy Minister Rainer Baake said that the country's entire new-car fleet will need to be zero emissions by 2030, in order to meet its own goals of cutting carbon dioxide output by 80 to 95% by 2050, Bloomberg reports.

He suggested a 2030 goal, rather than 2050, because new cars in Germany are kept in service for 20 years on average. Looking forward, if the country wants every single car to be emissions free by the 2050 date, it'll have to start two decades ahead of time, in order to hedge its bet.

The German government isn't leaving the country's drivers' switch to green vehicles to chance; it's subsidizing the purchase of electrified vehicles. This program was further accelerated following the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal.

It's hard to imagine an iconic German performance car like the Porsche 911, for example, going EV only (at least for the German home market) in as little as 14 years. Though, at the rate at which the industry is shifting and EV performance is accelerating, it could very well happen — especially if the designers have no choice.

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