Dear reader,
Negotiations between the EU and China over punitive tariffs on electric cars imported from China end today. If no agreement is reached, surcharges of an average of around 20 percent will apply from Friday. The EU states would have to decide by November at the latest whether the tariffs should also be paid in the long term.
The exact goal of the EU Commission remains unclear. Protection for the European auto industry? What exactly? The number of electric cars sold here by BYD, Nio and Great Wall Motor has so far been manageable. And the tariffs would also affect manufacturers like Volkswagen or BMW, which build cars like the Cupra Tavascan or the BMW iX3 in China and ship them to Europe.
A less critical approach would be: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (65) simply wants to bring more auto industry to Europe. BYD has already taken the first steps in this direction. In any case, we are excited to see what Europe and China announce today.
Holger Klein (54) has been the boss of ZF Friedrichshafen for a year and a half. While not so long ago the company had the reputation of being a rather cozy transmission specialist, there is now fire under the roof of the automotive supplier. ZF is heavily in debt. And CEO Klein takes action: he closes plants, sells off divisions and discontinues business areas. The works council warns that Klein could “drive ZF into the wall” with his course. Klein counters that he is also investing a lot. At ZF, the focus is primarily on Germany as a location; Klein sidelined the factories in Damme, Gelsenkirchen and Eitorf. What’s next? In an exclusive interview, Holger Klein answers questions
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With Bosch, Germany once again has the largest automotive supplier in the world, and with ZF in third place, another domestic giant is on the podium. However, the annual top 100 list from the Berylls consultancy shows that the tectonic plates are shifting not only among automobile manufacturers, but also among their suppliers. In 2012, only one supplier from China made it into the top 100; today there are already nine. The number is expected to almost double again by 2030; and even Bosch’s place at the top is wobbling.
Number of the week: 195
The car quality studies by the US analysis house J.D. Power has weight in the industry. The latest edition
should raise eyebrows in Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt, for example. On average for the industry, the authors found 195 problems per 100 cars. Volkswagen (241) and Audi (242) performed significantly worse and were at the bottom of the ranking together with Volvo (242) and Dodge (301). After all, Porsche is ahead: 172 problems, best premium brand.
As a sponsor, BYD is pumping millions of euros into the European Football Championship in order to become better known on the continent. The marketing strategy doesn’t seem entirely complete. The slogan is always on the advertising boards in the stadiums “BYD – NO.1 MANUFACTURER OF NEV”
to see. What a “NEV” is probably only known to observers of the Chinese car market (or people who have read our interview with Holger Klein). The abbreviation stands for New Energy Vehicles and includes pretty much everything that doesn’t drive around with a pure combustion engine. The advertising certainly seems to arouse interest. The byd.de website was visited more frequently than ever before. But the domain does not belong to the car manufacturer
, but rather an adult online shop. The operators of “Buy Your Dildo” are kind enough to now point car enthusiasts to byd.com on their homepage.
Have a good week.
Yours, Christoph Seyerlein
Do you have any wishes, suggestions or information that we should take care of journalistically? You can reach my colleagues in the Mobility team and me at manage.mobility@manager-magazin.de
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