German car manufacturers and suppliers want to invest billions in the development and factories for electric cars.
But how much Germany gets from it remains unclear.
Berlin - The manufacturers and suppliers of the German automotive industry will invest a total of around 250 billion euros in research and development (R&D) worldwide between 2023 and 2027.
This was announced by the Association of the Auto Industry (VDA).
The majority of the R&D budget should therefore flow into electromobility, including battery technology and autonomous driving.
However, the figures from the VDA do not show how high the investments in Germany will be.
Because the corporations do not balance their R&D figures by country, but only globally.
"The huge investments by the German automotive industry show the determination of our industry to turn the transformation into an international success story," comments VDA President Hildegard Müller.
The German automotive industry supports the climate goals and wants to make climate-neutral mobility a reality as quickly as possible.
German car manufacturers and suppliers are investing billions: the budget has been increased
The companies have thus increased their R&D budget compared to 2022.
A year ago, the VDA was still assuming 220 billion euros for the years 2022 to 2026, which would have corresponded to 44 billion euros annually.
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VW has been producing the ID.4 since May 2022.
in Emden.
The Passat was previously manufactured there.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa/picture alliance
For the five years from 2023, further investments of around 130 billion euros are to be added to the R&D budget.
These will flow into the construction of new factories worldwide as well as into the conversion of plants and their equipment.
Here, too, it is not known how high the expenditure will be in Germany.
State subsidy programs certainly also play a role in determining which country to invest in.
The USA wants to attract investments with the Inflation Reduction Act.
German car manufacturers and suppliers are investing billions: Tesla is not included
However, the current production figures do not bode well for Germany.
According to the VDA, 3.4 million vehicles were produced in Germany last year.
Although that was around eleven percent more than in 2021, it is a long way from the peak of 2011 with almost 5.9 million cars.
Incidentally, the VDA only takes companies based in Germany into account for all R&D data.
This does not include Tesla's figures.
Although the US manufacturer produces in Brandenburg, it is not based in Germany and is not a member of the association.
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Global investments in research and development: One third comes from German car manufacturers and suppliers
With their R&D expenditure, German companies are also internationally ahead.
This is shown by a VDA evaluation of data from the EU Commission, which was published in the report "The 2022 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard".
Accordingly, in 2021 the global R&D budget of German automotive companies amounted to 45.2 billion euros, an increase of six percent compared to the previous year.
Their share of global investment in research and development in the automotive industry is 33 percent.
According to the VDA, Germany continues to be the international leader in global investments in automotive research and development, ahead of Japan, the USA and China.
Incidentally, within the EU, these expenses made up 76 percent of German car manufacturers and suppliers.
List of rubrics: © Sina Schuldt/dpa/picture alliance
