Driving Against Net Zero
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Is defence of the petrol car and liberated motoring becoming the new battleground for Europe’s populist parties? Chris Bowlby visits one of the homes of German car culture and a populist stronghold, Zwickau, to see how motoring is rising up the German agenda. Is Zwickau a foretaste of something affecting all of Germany – a car-loving, car-manufacturing powerhouse in the past, now wondering anxiously what the future holds against the emergence of Chinese electric cars. And less than a hundred miles from Zwickau, just across the border in the Czech Republic, a new coalition government has recently taken power, including ministers from a populist party called Motorists for Themselves – muscular defenders of the old petrol car.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | If you need help on money matters, you're not alone. |
| 0:10.5 | In the Martin Lewis podcast, I'll give you tips to keep more cash in your pocket |
| 0:13.9 | and answer your important questions. |
| 0:16.7 | Now that we're starting from scratch, what is the best way for us to move forward? |
| 0:21.2 | To help your everyday finances just add up, let's see what we can do. |
| 0:26.2 | The Martin Lewis podcast, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:33.7 | I'm Chris Bolby this week on assignments in Zwickau in Eastern Germany. |
| 0:40.8 | In Zwickau, the main museum is devoted to the town's driving force. |
| 0:48.3 | And there's a man here in Zwickau, there were two auto firms. |
| 0:52.6 | You know, how they're he'sen? |
| 0:53.9 | Each new generation of local children is introduced to this place's proud history of motor manufacturing. |
| 1:00.0 | Before the Second World War, it was the birthplace of Audi, making the beautiful, highly polished saloons we can see here and some of the world's |
| 1:12.2 | fastest sports cars. After the war, history imposed a grating handbrake turn. Tickau became part |
| 1:20.8 | of communist East Germany, producing the Trabant car or Trabby, a byword for smelly two-stroke |
| 1:26.7 | engines and western jokes about eastern |
| 1:28.9 | motoring backwardness. Though there were some trabbier enthusiasts who defiantly raced their cars |
| 1:34.3 | at Monte Carlo. Or even the rally Montecarlo. And then came 1989, the fall of the wall, the end of communism. |
| 1:46.4 | Huge cheer goes up as the first of the East Berliners come across to the west. |
| 1:51.8 | I had family here and visited Svikau soon afterwards. |
| 1:55.2 | The most immediately visible change was new petrol stations. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

