The Schaeffler plant in Herzogenaurach
The investment plans concern not only the auto, but also the industrial sectors in which the company operates.
(Photo: imago images/isslerimages)
The automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler has announced increased investments in the USA. According to the preliminary report, Schaeffler boss Klaus Rosenfeld told the “Welt am Sonntag” that he had been in the USA for a week with Schaeffler’s main shareholder Georg Schaeffler.
One reason for this is the Inflation Reduction Act subsidy package, which is worth billions: “We will definitely use it to invest more in the USA,” said Rosenfeld. The IRA will give more impetus to the issue of sustainability in America. “This not only applies to cars, but also to the industrial sectors in which we operate.”
However, it is not about relocating the existing production to the USA. “But we’re more likely to build the next plants in America. There is a risk that Europe will lose out in this redistribution,” he said. There are also programs of their own in Europe. “The question is what works best,” Rosenfeld said.
In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”, Audi boss Markus Duesmann also said that the IRA had made the construction of a US plant for electric cars highly attractive. The IRA program has a total volume of 430 billion dollars and provides, among other things, subsidies and tax breaks for electric cars produced in the USA.
There are also restrictions on the use of battery materials aimed at greater independence from Chinese imports.
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