Dear reader,
Many car manufacturers are currently working on the right strategy to avoid a CO2 disaster in Europe in 2025. The best option would probably be to sell more electric cars. But how can you achieve this without total economic loss?
One of the most renowned salespeople in Germany’s automotive industry will discuss this with you and us. Next Tuesday, December 3rd at 6 p.m., Jürgen Stackmann (63), former Seat CEO and VW sales director, will be our guest in our “manage:mobility live” discussion on the topic of “E-cars, agency and fear before China – the billion dollar risk of car sales”. As a subscriber, you can participate digitally and ask your questions. You shouldn’t miss this. Click here to register.
Photo:
[M] Jann Höfer / manager magazin
Nio finally wants to sell more cars in Europe. You can find out what means the Chinese manufacturer is using in our topics of the week:
How Nio is radically changing its expansion strategy after a false start.
Why other GHG quota traders are likely to disappear from the market.
Why Volkswagen is considering stopping agency sales.
Topic of the week: How Nio is radically changing its expansion strategy after a false start
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Attack 2.0: Nio boss William Li finally wants to get started outside of China
Photo: Tatan Syuflana / AP
For 2025, Nio boss William Li (50) has planned nothing less than to double the sales figures of his electric car manufacturer. In Europe they have actually been declining recently, despite already meager starting values. Without a change of plans, Li will hardly be able to achieve his goals. And indeed, the boss is lending a hand: new brands, new partners, perhaps even new plants – Nio is turning its expansion strategy around. Particularly radical Li changes approach to sales
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Heads: Marco Schubert ++ Peter Carlsson ++ Niklas Klingenberg ++ Ola Källenius ++ Thomas Schäfer
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Goodbye agency? Volkswagen’s top sales representative Marco Schubert is making a U-turn
Photo: Audi
Marco Schubert (50) has been Volkswagen’s most powerful sales representative since September. Hardly there, Hildegard Wortmann’s successor (58) already starts to turn things around. Anyone who reads the manager magazine should hardly come as a surprise
: Volkswagen is facing this Stopping agency sales in its key European markets
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Peter Carlsson (54) was supposed to become the battery messiah for Europe’s auto industry. Finally less dependent on Asia! But Northvolt, the Swedish cell manufacturer on which the hopes rested, faltered badly. So much so that Carlsson resigned as CEO. The largest shareholders are Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs apparently write off their investments. The future is more than just uncertain.
Elsewhere in the great Volkswagen empire, however, Swedish influence is increasing. The truck subsidiary Traton is expanding board
, they will also be treating themselves to a research and development department in the future. It will be controlled by Niklas Klingenberg – alongside Christian Levin (57), Catharina Modahl Nilsson (61) and Mathias Carlbaum (52), the fourth Swede on the future seven-member board.
From the trucks we come to the vans (and another Swede). Although not so long ago an unloved child, the van division of Mercedes boss Ola Källenius (55) recently delivered the most stable results. It’s no coincidence that my colleague Margret Hucko discovered after testing the current V-Class extensively: It meets Källenius’ Luxury standards are much better than most cars with a star
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Volkswagen’s works council led by Daniela Cavallo (49) is convinced that the car manufacturer can overcome its crisis without closing plants. VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer (54) answered: “We’re not seeing that at the moment.”
Company: Bosch ++ Gerhardi ++ Volkswagen ++ Stellantis ++ Schaeffler
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String concert: Bosch boss Stefan Hartung is saving more and more
Photo: Rainer Unkel / IMAGO
The Gerlinger Schillerhöhe is actually not known for strong gusts. However, an increasingly violent storm is brewing over the automotive supplier Bosch, which has its home there. Bosch boss Stefan Hartung (58) is tightening his savings plans, wants to cut up to 5,500 more jobs than previously announced and around 10,000 additional employees reduce working hours and thus also salaries.
The automotive crisis has even more dramatic consequences for many smaller suppliers. The most recent example: the Lüdenscheid company Gerhardi. The plastics specialist with 1,500 employees has filed for bankruptcy.
While Volkswagen is still negotiating factory closures in Germany, the car manufacturer in China is removing its most controversial factory of all from the list. According to media reports, the car manufacturer and its partner SAIC have more than just one further cooperation until 2040
decided, the duo also wants to withdraw from the northwest Chinese province of Xinjiang and sell the work there. The site has repeatedly been criticized for human rights violations against members of the Uyghur minority.
Before you get the impression: separating from factories is not just a VW phenomenon in the auto industry. Stellantis closes its Vauxhall van factory
in Luton near London. Politicians with their electrical regulations are responsible. Sounds a bit like the international version of: “It’s Habeck’s fault!”
Schaeffler is also making cuts as a result his austerity course
its business in the UK; The supplier is closing a factory in Sheffield that produces clutches. Bearing production in Berndorf, Austria, is also hit hard. This should also end there by 2027 at the latest.
More mobility: GHG quotas, mobile homes, motorcycles and e-bikes
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Plug pulled: Many THG quota traders have disappeared from the market again
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Panama Pictures / picture alliance
Since 2022, the federal government has been rewarding electric car drivers through the greenhouse gas reduction, or GHG quota for short, and in return requires oil companies to reduce their emissions. Numerous middlemen sensed a deal. In the meantime, THG sadness reigns. Initially, bonuses amounted to around 400 euros per year, but recently it was only around 70 euros. Of what used to be almost 50 providers, around 10 remain. The tough screening, reports my colleague Anna Driftschröer, probably won’t be over yet
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Last week we reported on the difficulties faced by the mobile home manufacturer Knaus Tabbert. Since then, events have accelerated. At the end of last week, major shareholder Wim de Pundert took over as CEO and CFO. Instead of new customers, the police and public prosecutor’s office knocked on his door on Wednesday: on suspicion of corruption There was a raid on Knaus Tabbert. Camping chaos in Lower Bavaria.
The word crisis doesn’t just have four wheels. The traditional Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM is bankrupt. On Friday, the parent company Pierer Mobility plans to submit an application for restructuring under self-administration. Despite record sales last year Apparently a high three-digit million amount is missing.
The e-bike manufacturer Advanced Bikes is experiencing a similar situation. Around a year ago, the Offenbach-based company opened a new assembly plant and a chic headquarters. Now the company has filed for bankruptcy
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If you have any questions or suggestions about this newsletter, please feel free to write to us manage.mobility@manager-magazin.de
. Of course, if you have any tips or suggestions for research. We look forward to your message.
Deep Drive: Tesla – many kilometers, many defects
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Photo: The Mirror
First Olaf Scholz (66), then Robert Habeck (55) and most recently Angela Merkel (70) – Tesla boss and new politician Elon Musk (53) has just insulted all German political celebrities. But it also goes the other way around: Musk has received scolding from the original German authority with the three letters TÜV. The TÜV Association has evaluated the results of 10.2 million general inspections (HU) in Germany. Tesla’s Model 3 was noticed several times. It had an average of 53,000 kilometers on the clock for its first HU and is therefore driven significantly more than other electric cars such as the VW ID.4 (38,000 kilometers) or the Hyundai Kona (36,000 kilometers). But the car is also at the forefront in a less than glorious category: 14.2 percent of Model 3s were examined with significant defects.
Number of the week: 11
11 seems to be the number of the hour. Last Friday, basketball player Andreas Obst (28) from FC Bayern Munich sank eleven three-point throws against FC Barcelona, more than ever before in a game in Europe’s best league, the Euroleague. “There is fruit in the house,” was the trend in expert circles, and rightly so. Short excursion, but now quickly back to the topic of mobility. The 11 also plays a role there this week: Cadillac will enter Formula 1 in 2026 – as the eleventh team.
Ghost driver of the week
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Want to mobilize: Allride founder Julian Blessin (2nd from left), Laurin Hahn (2nd from right) and John David von Oertzen (r.)
Photo: AllRide
For Laurin Hahn (30), his first founding career ended abruptly: his solar car start-up Sono Motors went bankrupt. Now Hahn wants to know again. Hardware becomes software, and instead of cars, the founder wants to go with it in the future a mobility app
called Allride. Hahn has Julian Blessin, a former co-founder of the failed scooter company Tier Mobility, and John David von Oertzen, a former CEO of the Moovel Group, on board. Sounds like a trio that could use some success for a change. But the first farce could threaten before it really gets started. The Swiss VW importer Amag has also been operating a mobility platform for some time. Your name: Allride
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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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