The Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) expects increasingly difficult conditions for German car manufacturers in the home market. “The difficult overall economic situation is affecting consumer behavior and is causing comparatively weak demand for cars,” said VDA chief economist Manuel Kallweit to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
Domestic sales are massively below the level before the outbreak Corona crisis. In Germany New car sales will fall to 2.8 million this year. “That is around a quarter less than in the pre-crisis year of 2019.”
The development in Germany is not an isolated case, but part of a difficult global market environment, said Kallweit. “The weights in the world market are shifting.” In Europe and the USA Around 3.7 million fewer vehicles would be sold this year than before the crisis. China and India On the other hand, there was an increase of four million vehicles.
Given the problems Volkswagen recently announced stricter austerity measures
and for the first time, factory closures in Germany are no longer ruled out.
Ifo expert: Don’t write off the car industry
Despite the crisis and… bad mood in the German one Auto industry Economic researcher Anita Wolf, an expert at the Ifo Institute, sees hope. The economic researcher said that she would not write off the industry, given the “sudden nosedive” in sentiment recently reported by the Ifo. “It is not the first crisis that the automotive industry has had to go through.” And it will not be the last either.
In the past, the automotive industry has shown itself to be very resilient in crises and strong in innovation, emphasized Wolf. This adaptability was clearly visible, for example, in dealing with the supply chain difficulties of recent years or in the development of patents for electric drive trains. Basically, Wolf also sees this resilience in them suppliers. “My impression is that most people have adapted relatively well.” This is particularly true for those who have adjusted to the arrival of the electric motor.
However, Wolf also sees the industry’s difficulties: Overall, the German auto industry has Electromobility responded very late, she complains. In addition, unlike new pure electric providers from China, for example, they have the challenge of producing both combustion engines and electric cars with dual structures.
In view of the strong competition, there are also other issues such as changing customer expectations. In the most important electronics market, China, it is much more important what a car has to offer in terms of information and entertainment – and the Germans are still behind.
ADAC praises the promotion of electric company cars
In addition to these structural problems, the auto industry also suffers from the general global crisis Economic development. This particularly affects the export-oriented industry. In the monthly industry climate recently published by the Ifo, the indicator for export expectations also fell significantly and, at minus 29.6 points, was lower than it has been for a long time.
“Around two thirds of new car registrations in this country are attributable to commercial owners, who are currently particularly cautious about buying or leasing purely battery-electric vehicles,” says the ADAC. Tax advantages would benefit the manufacturers, but also the consumers, since the vehicles would be available on the used market after a few years.