The Netherlands is creating a new market for polluting old German cars by not charging road tax on cars built more than 25 years ago, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday.

In 2006, some 8,000 old cars were imported into the country, but by last year this had soared to 17,525. In particular, old Mercedes are popular, the paper said.
Local officials are worried that the old cars, which are much more polluting than newer versions of the same type, are undoing efforts to counteract emissions.
‘We have nothing against the car fan who drives a classic Cadillac from the 1950s once a week,’ Utrecht city council official Frits Lintmeijer told the paper. ‘But the tax break is creating a market for dirty old cars which Germany wants to get rid of.’