If the sky does not open up over Hanover and the apocalypse breaks out at the markets, the car supplier Continental will soon split up his division for software, electronics and sensors. Automotive, a business with 91,000 employees, did a lot to get out of the crisis and become interesting for investors. The return has improved, and the new savings that have now become known should also bring more efficiency. At the same time, they show what kind of construction site is – and what cuts are imminent for the German car companies. 3,000 more places fall away from the development of which one actually thinks that Conti should save the last thing. But as in other car companies, especially the bought large suppliers, everything is too big and too expensive. This applies particularly in an environment in which the market stagnates and bring customers like Volkswagen into their own house. Tech companies from America and Chinese rivals attack. For German medium-sized companies, but also DAX companies like Conti it says: focus on the essentials. More on the theme is, anything but clear. Conti sees software as a future field. But this is precisely here the pressure is immense, as the relationship with the VW group shows. He works with Rivian on an electrical architecture and with Bosch on autonomous driving, while Conti is more in the second row. Success is also not guaranteed in other fields, as BMW’s difficulties show with a conti brake. The recall does not only cost money, but also reputation. If the spin-off comes, Conti only stands for what you know from the group: tires and other rubber products. The electronics are said to have more success, but that may also be eyelashes. Because the major shareholder Schaeffler should use the automotive division, as he had previously done at the drive division Vitsco. That should also be independent, now it is going on in the Schaeffler group. Such consolidation is to be welcomed if it creates more robust units. At the same time, it shows how strongly the global ecosystem of the German car industry has to shrink to be viable.
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