In early September, Xin Guobin, China’s vice-minister of industry and information technology, told a forum of automakers held in Tianjin that the government would ban the production and sale of fossil fuel cars. Although no timetable has been formally announced, most Chinese automotive insiders, including BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, believe this ban will take place starting in 2030. Once China formalizes this policy, I expect Germany to quickly follow with its own ban of the ICE. A recently completed German VDA study concludes that the ban of the ICE would cost Germany more than 1 million industrial jobs. This became a major issue in this last year’s election and maintaining technological leadership in the German Automotive Industry will be critical to the German industrial policy, just as it is to Chinas.