As of: February 6, 2024, 6:45 a.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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According to an analysis, nowhere in Europe is the auto industry as well prepared for the transformation to electromobility as in Germany.
Munich – German car manufacturers hold a leading position globally in the market for combustion engines.
However, in the area of the electric car industry, Germany still feels under pressure from international competitors such as China and the USA.
The proportion of electric cars on the market is constantly increasing and so is the competition.
This also includes the Chinese car manufacturer Chery, which is currently entering the German market with a series of electric cars.
Last year, the German auto industry had to deal with various problem areas.
High cost pressure due to increased material prices on the one hand and the pressure from China, the world's most important car market, on the other, forced many German automobile companies to cut jobs or close plants completely.
In January, the mood among German automotive suppliers improved noticeably for the first time in a long time.
The automotive industry index rose from minus 15.8 points in December to minus 6.3 points in January.
“Companies in the German automotive industry assess their current business situation more positively and, in particular, are much more optimistic about the next few months than at the end of 2023,” said specialist Anita Wölfl from the Ifo Institute of the
German Press Agency
(dpa).
The global auto industry is breathing a sigh of relief – but there are still no signs of the all-clear
According to the ifo expert, global sales increased last year and, according to insiders, robust growth is expected for important sales markets this year too.
“However, despite this good development and prospects, the signs are not yet clear,” added Wölfl.
VW electric vehicles of various types © IMAGO/Uwe Meinhold
When assessing the current business situation, positive assessments predominated, but negative ones predominated when it came to business expectations.
Some companies continue to assess the order situation as unsatisfactory, capacity utilization has declined and there is an increasing shortage of skilled workers.”
Germany is an important electric car location in Europe
A positive trend is now emerging based on an analysis by the management consultancy PwC Strategy&, which was initially reported by
Wirtschaftswoche
.
According to their results, nowhere in Europe is the auto industry as well prepared for the transformation to electromobility as in Germany.
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At least that's what a map of European electric car manufacturers shows, highlighting the 160 most important car factories across Europe.
Three of a total of five European e-car centers will be located in Germany and neighboring regions (Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France).
The
PwC study
comes to the conclusion that “vehicle production in Europe will be almost completely converted to electric vehicles by 2030,” reports
Wirtschaftswoche
.
The change should also not result in any shrinking of the industry.
Rather, sales of electric vehicles will continue to grow, and demand from suppliers should also increase accordingly.
The electric car industry is booming in East Germany
According to PwC, suppliers who are located within a 250 kilometer radius of these economic centers generally have a promising starting position due to low logistics costs and reliable delivery routes.
The prerequisite: You prepare adequately for the switch to electromobility in the coming years.
According to the consultants, the fastest-growing car region in Europe is also in Germany: more precisely, it stretches between Wolfsburg, Grünheide in Brandenburg, and Arnstadt in Thuringia.
Volkswagen and Tesla have been based in the first two cities, and the battery manufacturer CATL is based in Arnstadt, Thuringia.
Currently, around 1.3 million cars are built in East Germany every year - around half of them with purely electric drive.
By 2030 there will be up to 2.3 million cars a year, and almost all of them will be electric.
German car industry under pressure from Chinese manufacturers
In contrast to Europe, the Chinese government is sticking to the sale of cars with combustion engines beyond 2035.
Many experts now assume that Chinese cars with combustion engines will in future close the gap that could be left by the supposedly imminent withdrawal of European car manufacturers from combustion engines.
Chinese manufacturers are constantly pushing into the European market with ever-increasing demand.
Expert Ferdinand
Dudenhöffer
from the market research institute Center Automotive Research (CAR)
predicts that the German automotive industry will face great pressure from China.
Dudenhöffer calls the fact that so many Chinese electric car suppliers are entering the German market a “turning point that is making Europe an interesting market for Chinese electric cars.”
Accenture expert Philipp Kupferschmidt, on the other hand, is relaxed about the entry of Chinese car manufacturers into the European market.
“The difference between a Chinese-produced electric car and a German one is an average of 20,000 euros in total price,” the expert admits that the Chinese have cost advantages.
“But in Germany, Chinese manufacturers will also charge higher prices than in China.
The price difference won’t be huge.”
Analysis shows no signs of risk of mass unemployment
Nonetheless, some have
German automotive companies are actually struggling with problems at the moment.
This includes
for example the ZF Group, which could potentially cut tens of thousands of jobs in the next few years.
And early in the new year, another automotive supplier, ZD Automotive, had to file for bankruptcy.
But it also remains to be seen how car manufacturers will be able to make up for the lost market shares and sales of the previous year in 2024.
Some experts have also warned in the past that the switch to electric cars, which consist of significantly fewer components than combustion cars, could be extremely damaging to the German auto industry.
They also pointed out that the risk of mass unemployment could increase as a result of the transformation to electromobility.
However, the PwC analysis that has now been published suggests a rather opposite effect in the near future.
(Fabian Hartmann)