Articles by Christian Stampfer
Oktoberfest 2019 Opens in Munich with Parades and Ceremony
MUNICH—The first keg was tapped with the words “O’zapft is” (“it’s tapped”) accompanied by a 12-gun salute as Bürgermeister Dieter Reiter opened the 186th Oktoberfest on Saturday. As tradition demands, the Bürgermeister handed the first Maß – literally a measure but also a liter – of beer to Bavarian Ministerpräsident Markus Söder.
The opening was preceded by a Festzug, a parade, starting in the city center, which was led by the …
At the 2019 Frankfurt Auto Show, Green Means Go
The biennial Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, aka the Frankfurt Auto Show, facing a dwindling number of exhibitors, says it will no longer focus on numbers, instead championing “sustainable individual mobility.”
“We wish to provide intelligent answers to the most urgent questions about the future of mobility,” said Bernhard Mattes, president of the Verband der Automobilindustrie, Germany’s auto industry association, at a press event last week.
BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche are showcasing high-end electric vehicles …
BMW Speeds Up Plans for Electric Vehicle Rollout
MUNICH—BMW will accelerate its plans to bring additional electric and hybrid-electric vehicles to the market, the automaker said Tuesday at an event in Munich. It is also introducing a new feature that will automatically switch off internal combustion engines in its hybrid cars when they enter heavily polluted city centers, which the automaker refers to as “eDrive Zones.”
The Bavarian automaker plans to have 25 electrified models on sale by 2023, …
The 13 Best Christmas Markets in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the U.K.
MUNICH—Did you know that there are 55 days left until Christmas, 23 days until Black Friday, and 31 days until the first Christmas markets open their stalls to customers?
Indeed, the holidays are coming and my favorite part of that is the wonderful Christmas markets or, as we say in Munich, the Christkindlmärkte.
In fact, you really haven’t truly experienced Christmas unless you’ve been to a Christmas market in Europe. They can …
‘O’zapft is!’ 185th Oktoberfest Opens in Munich
MUNICH—With the words “O’zapft is” (it’s tapped) and a 12-gun salute, the Lord Mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, opened the 185th Oktoberfest at the stroke of noon on Saturday.
A Festzug, or parade, preceded the ceremony from the city center to the Oktoberfest grounds at the Theresienwiese, led by the Münchner Kindl, the symbol of the city, followed by the lord mayor. The procession continued with horse-drawn carriages and floats from …
Audi CEO Arrested in Dieselgate Case
MUNICH—Rupert Stadler, the Vorstandsvorsitzender or CEO of Audi, the German automaker, was arrested Monday morning relating to the automaker’s diesel emissions compliance scandal, known as Dieselgate, according to a statement by the Staatsanwaltschaft or district attorney’s office in Munich.
Stadler’s apartment in Ingolstadt was also searched.
“We confirm that Herr Stadler was arrested this morning,” said Audi spokesman Toni Melfi to the German magazine Focus Online, adding that “the presumption of innocence …
Bosch Announces A ‘Breakthrough’ That Could Save Diesel
MUNICH—Robert Bosch said Wednesday that it has developed a new diesel-exhaust system that would allow automakers to continue to offer diesel powerplants in the future.
The new technology would cut emissions to below the 2020 EU emissions regulations by bringing nitrogen oxides or NOx to 13 milligrams per kilometer, well below the current legal limit of 120 milligrams.
It does this by optimizing thermal management of exhaust temperatures and doesn’t require new …
