Wild debate before Merkel's car summit: Bavaria wants purchase bonus up to 4,000 euros - BMW cuts jobs

The economic consequences of the corona crisis are underestimated, warns an economist - and calculates what the lockdown costs every German.

Update from May 5, 9:34 p.m .:

The carmaker BMW has lowered its outlook in its core business because of the corona virus pandemic and wants to reduce the number of employees. The goals should be achieved with a number of employees that will be slightly below the level of the previous year, said the Dax group on Tuesday evening. The company will use vacancies through fluctuation to drive personnel restructuring. BMW initially did not disclose the number of jobs that could fall victim to the tightened austerity measures.

At the end of 2019, according to the old count, the group had almost 134,000 employees, based on a new definition around 126,000. Until now, CEO Oliver Zipse had planned to maintain the current year with an essentially constant number of employees.

Wild debate before Merkel's car summit: Bavaria wants purchase bonus up to 4,000 euros - Even FDP warns

Update of May 5, 3:45 p.m .: The conference call of the automotive industry with Angela Merkel (CSU) and other government representatives ended without a specific decision on purchase bonuses: a working group is to present results by June.

Update from May 4, 3:00 p.m .: Are there purchase bonuses for cars again in the Corona crisis ? Shortly before Angela Merkel's car summit , the debate is already boiling high. However, the majority of reminders seem to be. Even the FDP warned of this type of economic aid on Monday.

Criticism before car summit: New edition of the scrappage bonus could be a mistake

Purchase premiums are "not only economically sensible, but also ecologically senseless," said FDP parliamentary group leader Frank Sitta on Monday to the AFP news agency . The federal government should "be careful not to commit the past mistakes again with a new edition of the scrappage bonus ". These only led to a "take-away effect" in which every taxpayer ultimately subsidized the car buyer who could afford a new car anyway.

Other demands came from the states of the large corporations VW and Audi. Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) wants a purchase premium - if it makes environmentally friendly cars more attractive. Ecological issues should play a "much bigger role" than the scrapping bonus in 2009, he said. However, the car market urgently needs to be boosted. Bavaria's Vice Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) demanded a purchase premium for cars from pollutant class 6 in the Augsburger Allgemeine .

Corona and the economy: Before Merkel's auto summit - Federal Environment Agency warns of mistakes that will "take revenge"

The President of the Federal Environment Agency , Dirk Messner, spoke out against a purchase premium for new cars. Instead, the government should create the necessary infrastructure and incentives for more electric mobility. "If we just take care of the here and now and forget the much bigger climate crisis, it will take revenge," he warned. However, if the funds are used correctly, it will become “the largest economic stimulus program since the beginning of the industrial revolution ”.

The Left Party has apparently already devised a strategy. By 2025, German city ​​centers should become car-free , and from 2030 new cars with combustion engines should no longer be registered, according to a report by the Stuttgart newspaper and the Stuttgarter Nachrichten in a strategy paper by party leader Bernd Riexinger. 

In order to achieve the radical restructuring without social upheaval and mass layoffs , Riexinger proposes "a combination of public participation and employee ownership" for the automotive industry. Priority must then "have the production of vehicles for collective mobility concepts", in addition to electric cars, electric buses and minibuses.

The independent MP Marco Bülow (formerly) SPD brought up a completely different approach: he called for a " climate-friendly mobility premium for all people ". This could, for example, promote the purchase of bicycles or annual train tickets. In the crisis, "the big lobbyists should not get their hands on the reins," he warned.

Corona crisis: Altmaier consultant opens lockdown calculation - "costs 60 euros every day"

Update from May 4, 11:50 a.m .:  Jens Südekum advises Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU)  and teaches international economics at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf - and has now calculated how much the shutdown * costs each individual German per day . “A week of lockdown * costs about $ 35 billion a week. That's 5 billion a day - and an average of 60 euros per German citizen per day, ”said the 44-year-old to the picture editorial team.

The Altmaier consultant Südekum also assumes that the economic consequences * of the Corona crisis are underestimated: “The first forecasts that were made were too optimistic. It will go down dramatically. It is already clear that we will get the strongest review since the end of World War II, ”the report quotes.

The FDP has meanwhile criticized Altmaier's plans to tighten controls on foreign investments. The economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Reinhard Houben , told the dpa that the federal government is restricting the rights of company owners and investors to “just suspicion”. 

Corona crisis: Before Auto Summit - Volkswagen and Co. charge purchase premium for all new cars

First report from May 3rd:

Berlin - Before the top talk with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Tuesday, the auto industry demanded a quick decision on purchase premiums for new cars. The president of the industry association VDA, Hildegard Müller, demanded quick clarity about the premium - otherwise the lull in the industry would be aggravated because consumers would further delay their purchase decision. VW boss Herbert Diess asked for purchase premiums for all new vehicles , not just for environmentally friendly e-cars . Opposition came from SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans and the Greens.

Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier (CDU) plans to amend the foreign trade regulation.

© dpa / Tobias Schwarz

Before the auto summit on Tuesday: industry is pushing for a stimulus package

VDA President Müller urged a decision in WamS in May or early June. Müller complained of a current "double reluctance" of potential car buyers: They were not only unsettled because of the Corona crisis , but also because of the uncertainty whether they should wait for a government purchase premium . "Political decisions have to be taken promptly so that there is clarity in the market," said Müller. However, she does not assume that at the auto summit on Tuesday there will already be talk of specific amounts in euros. Then, according to a government spokeswoman, Chancellor Merkel wants to speak to representatives of the automotive industry about the "effects of the corona pandemic * on the production and sales of the industry".

Lobbyist Müller emphasized that her association wanted " broad support " not only for electric and hybrid cars, but also for vehicles with internal combustion engines. "But we could imagine a tiered model in which certain drives receive additional bonuses."

As is to be expected, the online interview creates violent headwinds. Many users defend themselves against multi-billion dollar support   for the automotive industry, including comedian Michael Mittermeier, who opposes another “scrappage bonus”:

Dear Marion, I think there are as many people who need your car as there are people who need your bike. We in the country, for example. Nevertheless, I think the scrapping practice is a mistake. Because it reinforces that. We lose time in the environment, climate and technology

First # put the purchase premium into play #Vda and then customers are unsettled because there is no political decision.
To ensure security, I would refuse a purchase premium for cars. Other industries have been hit much harder.

VW chief Diess also urged a decision "in the next few weeks" in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . Now is not the time for "fundamental discussions"; Rather, a "focus on the economy and pace" is necessary. The premium is not specifically about the car industry, but about the economy as a whole. This emphasized that the premium should not only apply to electric cars: "We need the premium regardless of the type of drive , for the entire product range."

The demands of the car industry are causing criticism in politics

The demands of the automotive industry met with skepticism in politics. SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans declined new purchase premiums for new cars with reference to "the rich profits of recent years" in the auto industry. "To consider taxpayers as guarantors for the dividends of shareholders is absurd," said Walter-Borjans to Business Insider .

Green leader Robert Habeck demanded that a purchase bonus should only be given for ecologically exemplary vehicles . In addition, bonuses and dividends from the companies in question would have to be withheld in the event of government funding, he said on Deutschlandfunk.

Habeck was generally skeptical about the need for help in the automotive industry . "On the one hand, the automotive industry brags about how well it is doing, what profits it has made," he said. "On the other hand, she wants taxpayers' money to save her companies. That doesn't go together."

Loosening of the corona requirements: pressure also from the catering trade

Chancellor Merkel wants to advise the car industry on Tuesday, and on Wednesday Chancellor and Prime Ministers want to decide on further steps to relax corona requirements in public life. BDI boss Dieter Kempf warned of a noticeable opening: "Our companies want and need to know in which stages social and economic life should start again," he told the Funke newspapers.

The hotel and restaurant association also put pressure. On Wednesday, "a clear roadmap for my industry and a rescue fund would have to be decided," CEO Ingrid Hartges told Bild am Sonntag . However, Merkel had already announced that easing in the catering industry should only be discussed at the next federal and state consultations.

Coronavirus infections worldwide are worrying citizens. There is another pathogen that currently represents a far greater danger *.

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Everyone is currently looking at politics and science. Christian Drosten is disturbed by the fact that both parties do not always work hand in hand. The virologist is annoyed.

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