Dear reader,
Europe’s biggest car show this year is currently taking place in Paris, brass bands and DJs included. There is actually little to celebrate. The past quarter turned into a festival of profit warnings in the industry. 2025 will be even more difficult: the new CO2 fleet targets in the EU promise a brutal car year. There was a lot of frustration almost everywhere in Paris, especially in politics.
In addition, a lot of the Mondial De L’Auto revolves around China. Numerous attackers from the Middle Kingdom are also present in Paris again. In contrast to the IAA in Munich last year, their appearances seem more moderate. Hardly any Chinese manufacturers have yet gained a foothold in Europe. But they certainly won’t let up. These are our topics of the week:
Why the battery cell could become Europe’s biggest car disgrace.
Why VW’s North American boss is now about to leave.
Why Brose patriarch Michael Stoschek is planning a revolution.
Topic of the week: Battery alarm in Europe
Most of the added value in electric cars lies in the battery. Europe’s industry is still very good at building vehicles. However, the battery is at risk of total failure. The Swedish hopeful Northvolt is fighting for survival. Mercedes, Volkswagen and BMW are slowing down on their battery cell plans. The back and forth of politics is making the disaster even worse. My colleagues Margret Hucko and my colleague Michael Freitag describe how an industry is dismantling itself in the process of transformation, how the battery cell could become its greatest defeat and why the last hope comes from China of all places in their inside report
.
Sales of electric cars are expected to increase significantly in Europe in 2025. Regulation makes it possible, otherwise some manufacturers face massive CO2 penalties. But does the consumer actually want the transformation? The largest German car insurer is raising doubts about this. According to the HUK Coburg
More and more private electric car drivers are switching back to combustion engines. In 2021 it was 14 percent, in the current year it was 34 percent. Bitter numbers. Politics is also likely to play a part in this: until the end of 2022 there was still an “environmental bonus” of up to 9,000 euros. It was first shut down and, as is well known, stopped completely almost overnight at the end of 2023.
Deep Drive: What will become of AutoEurope?
Do you want a bigger picture than Germany? No problem. According to McKinsey, the auto industry in Europe contributed around $1.9 trillion to gross value added in 2023. What happens next? The consultants see three scenarios: If things are “disruptive,” European car value creation could shrink by $400 billion by 2035. In a “scenario with ambitious plans,” the loss would be $130 billion. If the local industry exploits its “full potential”, it can also maintain its production value. How and why? You will find out here
in detail.
BMW boss Oliver Zipse (60) is doing well compared to the industry when it comes to meeting EU fleet targets. He still doesn’t want to be the Tavaresian world savior. On the contrary: Zipse has just railed again against the EU’s 2035 ban on combustion engines. How good for him that there are other markets. Dubai, for example. There the people of Munich can continue to live out their combustion fever dream. At the premiere of the BMW M5 Touring, they didn’t pull a cloth off the cars. No, they preferred to leave their sports suits behind fly in by helicopter
. 727 horsepower from the air for a country where there is a speed limit. What the hell.
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
.
You can also find our newsletter “manage:mobility”. here on our website.