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Of course, one must always enjoy Elon Musk's promise with caution. The entrepreneur and Tesla boss is not exactly known for his modest demeanor, and some of his visions sound like the sci-fi stories he loved to read as a kid. Time announced Musk, from 2025 to colonize Mars with people. At times, he promises to turn the Tesla cars into Robotaxis from 2020 onwards.
And yet Musk's recent announcement to build a large factory ("Gigafactory") for electric cars and batteries in Brandenburg as well as a design and development center in Berlin is a wake-up call for the German auto industry. The Tesla boss meets with ambitious plans, the hesitation that currently prevails in several corporate headquarters.
Location Germany - but not so bad
Musk wants to invest in the location Germany - which many of its German competitors consider increasingly unattractive. While manufacturers such as Daimler and BMW are negotiating billionaire austerity programs with their works councils, suppliers like Continental are closing down entire factories, and the industry is reducing production in its home market, Musk wants to build new locations in and around the German capital. Moreover, Germany is evidently intended to become the bridgehead for the European expansion of the e-car manufacturer. And not without reason.
He has great respect for the competence of German engineers, says Musk. The Tesla boss proved that this is no lip service, just a few years ago with the purchase of the German medium-sized Grohmann. The high-tech company supplies Musk automation technology for its factories. Corporations like BMW, which once belonged to the Grohmann customers, meanwhile go away empty-handed.
Musk also likes to rely on know-how from Germany for its personnel. When there was chaos in its US factories (Musk himself referred to a "production hell"), he brought former Audi manager Peter Hochholdinger, who was looking for efficiency, at the production sites for several years trimmed. At Tesla in California, there are quite a few engineers who used to work for BMW or Bosch.
Whether Tesla will actually create up to 10,000 jobs in Germany, as some media speculate now, is questionable. Musk is a fan of high automation, his vision is that of a "machine building the machine". In particular, for the construction of electric batteries, only a few people are needed, instead robots do essential parts of the work.
Grand gauge, but successful
But Musk has learned from the production problems of the early days: robots can not solve all problems. Musk also needs people, highly skilled mechanics, technicians and developers for its many newly planned models. And he obviously also believes he finds it in Germany, the motherland of the automobile. It's more about quality than quantity.
The great respect that Musk has for its established competitors in Germany has not been based on reciprocity for a long time. Auto executives from corporations like BMW or Volkswagen did not take Musk seriously, they smiled at him for his cockiness. To this day, the Tesla boss - rightly - has many critics who point to the precarious earnings of the US company. The aggressive expansion devours billions, and musk has yet to prove that he can operate profitably in the long term.
But one thing he has already achieved: Tesla has become a pioneer for electrically powered, digitally networked vehicles. Hardly anyone would have thought that possible only a few years ago. Even in the Volkswagen Group Tesla is now considered a role model. The US rival has long changed from a niche player to a mass producer, said recently VW boss Herbert Diess.
Hardly any concrete facts are known about the newly planned locations in and around Berlin. Nevertheless, Musk's plans are a clear signal to BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen: New providers such as Tesla are increasingly penetrating their established business - now even at their domestic locations. The competition is getting tougher, not only for the customers, but also for the employees.
Unless the top dogs manage to fundamentally reform and build attractive cars with alternative propulsion and digital connectivity, they will no longer play a major role in the future car business.
