Magdalena Martullo-Blocher is a right-wing conservative politician and entrepreneur rolled into one.
She does not have a particularly high opinion of her customers, the German carmaker.
Domat / Ems - Magdalena Martullo-Blocher combines many a contradiction in terms. As a right-wing conservative and above all loud politician, she describes the EU's climate plan to ban cars with internal combustion engines from 2035 as a “huge mistake”. As a multi-billion dollar entrepreneur and major shareholder of the plastics manufacturer Ems-Chemie, she supplies VW and Co. with important battery components for their electric cars. That didn't stop her from
pulling off the leather
in the
Handelsblatt
about the German car makers.
The MP of the right-wing conservative Swiss party SVP gets political attention primarily through pithy slogans, a lot of criticism of Corona measures and an anti-EU attitude.
With success: Switzerland only ended negotiations with the European Union on the framework agreement in the area in May.
Even as an entrepreneur, things could hardly go better for Martullo-Blocher: Ems-Chemie recently posted record sales of around 1.1 billion euros for the first half of the year.
Magdalena Martullo-Blocher: She makes electric cars safe - and hates electric cars
Martullo-Blocher's company is benefiting, of all things, from the mobility transition that the unloved EU is currently pushing. Ems-Chemie manufactures plastics and thermal pastes that help prevent batteries in electric cars from overheating. For example, the copper cables between the individual battery cells in the VW ID.4 are wrapped in plastic parts from Martullo-Blocher. And yet the lady of the house says: "Politically, I've always been against electric mobility."
Electromobility in its current form is not yet competitive.
Martullo-Blocher is convinced that the EU is damaging the industry with its strict guidelines.
The entrepreneur has a clear opinion not only about the combustion engine plans of the EU: In the
Handelsblatt
she sent
unflattering greetings to
her customers, the German car manufacturers
.
Your allegations: too much political lethargy, too little diligence.
Combustion prohibition: German carmakers “sidelined” and too lazy, says Martullo-Blocher
The German auto industry is politically "completely sidelined" by not defending itself against the EU Commission and even cooperating with it, says Martullo-Blocher. “I don't understand why the German auto industry is not resisting such drastic guidelines,” says the manufacturer of battery components and scoffs at German work ethic. She can't get anything out of the company holidays. "Especially in Germany, people go on vacation from Corona." The demand in the German auto industry to ramp up production is not great.
In her own company, Magdalena Martullo-Blocher is considered a tough boss who quickly gets loud. She formulates the secret of Ems-Chemie's success as follows: “Innovations and customer benefits are decisive for us.” The innovation would then be the scolded electromobility and the benefits for the no less scolded customer Volkswagen would be cool ID.4 batteries.