After outrage and a wave of resignations German ADAC boss wants higher fuel prices - now he has to go
In an interview, Hillebrand had described CO2 pricing, which makes fuel more expensive, as the "right instrument". This was followed by outrage and a wave of resignations, and now he has resigned.
02.02.2026, 14:39
02.02.2026, 14:49
dpa
A wave of resignations following an interview has cost ADAC traffic president Gerhard Hillebrand his job. He is resigning and taking responsibility for the damage to his reputation, the traffic club announced.
The background to this are around 60,000 resignations in connection with an interview at the end of 2025 in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung", in which Hillebrand had made positive comments about CO2 pricing, which makes petrol and diesel more expensive. The "Bild-Zeitung" had previously reported on the resignation and the number of redundancies.
Specifically, Hillebrand had said in the interview with "NOZ" published at the end of December: "The ADAC considers CO2 pricing to be the right instrument for achieving climate protection targets. People need the incentive to switch to climate-friendly alternatives to diesel and petrol." However, it is right to take time and prevent price peaks, "especially as a price increase only has a positive effect if there are sufficient opportunities to avoid it with alternative offers".
Regret over anger and lost credibility
According to ADAC, this led to "considerable irritation among members as well as numerous complaints and terminations". Hildebrand regretted that his statements had unsettled and annoyed members and cost him credibility. He had come to the conclusion "that it is in the interests of the ADAC and its credibility to draw personal conclusions from this". His area of responsibility will be temporarily taken over by ADAC Technical President Karsten Schulze.
The association regrets "that so many members have left the ADAC out of anger", said a spokeswoman. "We will work hard to win back members who have been disappointed." However, more than 100,000 new members were gained in January alone, which corresponds to the previous year's level.
However, it does not make sense to calculate whether the ADAC is currently gaining more members than it is losing with these figures: on the one hand, there are other terminations for other reasons, and on the other hand, terminations only take effect after a certain period of time. The ADAC has recently always reported increases over a one-year period.
The CO2 price makes petrol and diesel more expensive. The current stage, which came into effect at the turn of the year, adds up to three cents per liter.
