Dear reader,
to get started once again: Nexperia. The confusion surrounding the chip supplier continues. According to Economy Minister Vincent Karremans (39), the Netherlands gives control of the company again. This is a sign of goodwill towards China. Has the conflict finally been resolved?
Some things remain unclear. Above all: what happens next for Nexperia itself? Until the very end, the European and Chinese representations had made accusations against each other and had acted virtually independently. According to a Nexperia statement from the Netherlands, the Chinese owner Zhang Xuezheng remains sidelined. Interim boss Stefan Tilger (43) will continue to run Nexperia for the time being. It will be interesting to see the response from China.
In the automotive industry, which has been particularly hard hit by the conflict, there is still no sign of relaxation: Bosch, for example, only reported on Tuesday about further production losses.
Volkswagen, that’s after one Report from my colleague Michael Freitag a few weeks ago is no longer a secret
, urgently needs money. The group is therefore also checking which investments could be converted into silver. For example: Everllence. Once known under the name MAN Diesel & Turbo, the Augsburg company builds heavy engines and turbines and is considered one of the company’s pearls. Volkswagen would like at least 6 billion euros for this. The bidding for Everllence could be spectacular: Porsche SE, among others, is interested. That’s right, the Porsche and Piëch holding company. Volkswagen’s majority owners could finance the purchase together with the financial investor EQT – and would in a sense be buyer and seller in one
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Company: Mercedes ++ Porsche ++ Aston Martin ++ Flydubai ++ KTM ++ YT Industries ++ Woom
We’ve already had a look back at a previous headline, here’s another one: “The auto industry is threatened with a hurricane in 2023”
, we quoted Bain expert Klaus Stricker at the end of 2022. Three years later we received an update from the management consultancy that said: “The hurricane is becoming a reality”. In the third quarter of 2025, the average margin of global automobile manufacturers fell to 3.9 percent. At first glance, things look better for suppliers, but strong results from chip and battery suppliers distort the actually bleak picture. The Bain consultants are clear in their brief analysis: “The actions and decisions over the next twelve months will determine who will be the winner or loser in the ‘endgame’.”
Ghost Driver of the Week, Part 1
When it comes to hydrogen cars, you would actually think that they have already lost their personal endgame. The already meager sales worldwide fell by more than a fifth to less than 13,000 vehicles in 2024. The number of H2 filling stations has also recently fallen in Germany. Nevertheless, the federal government and the Free State of Bavaria are now releasing 273 million euros in H2 funding. BMW can be happy about this. While Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (58; CSU) has just canceled the promised “children’s start-up allowance” for Bavarian families, his car family can rely on him.
In addition to BMW, Toyota is also one of the few hydrogen believers in the industry. Their supervisory board chairman Akio Toyoda (69) made headlines for other reasons. How do you properly deal with US President Donald Trump (79)? Toyoda’s answer is apparently: maximum ingratiation. He recently posed with the US ambassador in attendance at a race at Fuji Speedway. Not in any way, but in full MAGA regalia. Bright red “Make America Great Again” cap and Trump Vance shirt instead of a suit or racing overalls. Once in the mood, Toyoda immediately addressed Trump’s tariff tirades in flowery terms: “We’re looking for ways to make tariffs a win-win for everyone.” We are excited about the result.
May your week also be great.
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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