Herbert dies
The VW boss sees in electromobility the sole future of the car industry.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
StuttgartVolkswagen-Boss Herbert dies mastered an art that was previously only Ferdinand Piëch’s own in Wolfsburg – with just a few words to pique the entire industry. “Open technology is now the wrong slogan and leads to move the system change into the future,” said Diess last week at the presentation of the annual balance sheet,
The VW-Chef thus gives all alternatives to the electric car a clear rejection; He buried gas or fuel cell cars with it right away. The battery drive was “for the foreseeable future the best and most efficient way for less CO2 in traffic”, put Diess on Sunday against the “world” to.
Diess had a post on Saturday in the business network LinkedIn also advertised for electromobility. “Politicians and associations should no longer pretend that there are equivalent alternatives,” he wrote.
Automotive supplier snubbed
This not only snubbed it Daimler and BMW and counteracted the position of the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), but especially hit the big suppliers at their sore point – especially world market leader Bosch, but also Continental, ZF Friedrichshafen, Schaeffler and meal.
Current club events
Although the major suppliers agree that the electric car belongs to the future, and prepare intensively for it. “No electric car without Bosch,” says Bosch boss Volkmar Denner, And since suppliers of electric vehicles will also supply the engines and batteries, their added value share tends to increase.
Comment: Adventure Electric Mobility – VW energises the whole industry
Above all, the suppliers need one thing for their change: time. It’s about billions of dollars and thousands of jobs that are even more likely to be phased out if you’re making a one-sided and premature commitment to electromobility. There is a great deal of rumination among suppliers on the employers’ side because VW boss Diess with his thrust poured oil into the fire.
Nothing has changed yet about the old mechanics of the industry: The suppliers build what the automaker orders.
ZF boss gives up
Nobody dared therefore open, contradiction against the boss of the largest European automaker and thus by far the largest customers. But the statements were subcooled. Most clearly expressed ZFBoss Wolf-Henning Scheider in an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”: “You can not equate the strategy of a single company with the entire industry.”
The suppliers are particularly eaten up, because of all the company that has brought the whole industry into disrepute with the diesel fraud, is now trying to set itself up as a trailblazer. It is well known that the credibility of a radical electric strategy in terms of CO2 emissions depends on the way in which energy is generated.
Bosch employees hope for a smooth conversion
“We have to be technology-minded as a supplier,” says Bosch manager Uwe Gackstatter. “That comes from a risk point of view. If that does not work with electromobility, there is no second shot. “Bosch has 300 customers.
Gackstatter is head of the divisional board drive solutions at the group. The Swabians have already combined all types of diesel, gasoline and electric power in order to react flexibly to the orders of the auto industry. Gackstatter has the mammoth task, the transformation in the coming years as socially compatible as possible to bring across the stage.
That will hardly be possible anyway. But the more time Bosch has during the conversion, the smoother the conversion will be. Bosch employs 50,000 people worldwide in diesel technology, 15,000 of them in Germany and above all in the main factory in Feuerbach, in Homburg and in Bamberg.
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Diesel engines emit less CO2 than gasoline, but have fallen into disrepute following the VW emissions scandal involving Bosch in software shipments. Modern diesel comply with the emission standards. That’s why suppliers such as global market leader Bosch do not want to write off the technology.
Last Wednesday, employees in Feuerbach first took to the streets during working hours. This is rather unusual at Bosch. The push of Diess could mean that the electric mobility comes much faster and that Bosch more workers lose their jobs faster.
The suppliers also feel offended because electric cars with electricity from the German power mix are only superior in terms of their life cycle performance to the 100,000 kilometer life cycle. “The CO2 balance of road traffic is incomplete, as long as fuel and power generation are not considered,” said Bosch boss Denner recently. The ambitious CO2 regulation of the EU can therefore only be achieved with technology openness, ie with burners, at least in hybrid vehicles.
“The best solution for environmentally and demand-oriented mobility always depends on the intended use,” emphasizes Mahle CEO Jörg Stratmann. For this reason, it is essential to look at all available solutions and evaluate them across the entire lifecycle of a vehicle.
“At ZF, we are convinced that engineers do not need any barriers, but rather leeway,” says ZF CEO Wolf-Henning Scheider. This is the only way to find the right solutions for all needs. “Decisive for the mobility of the future is a technology-based and pragmatic approach that takes people along and is also accessible to them,” adds Scheider.
Auto expert warns against rapid transformation
Scheider already had in the Handelsblatt interview first demanded a “people’s hybrid”, with a view to households that only have one vehicle and want to maintain their mobility in everyday life and holidays. With a next-generation hybrid, people with a range of 90 kilometers can drive to the cities electrically. For longer cross-country journeys with an internal combustion engine, they are not within range and are limited in loading like pure electric cars.
Auto parts supplier: 3000 Bosch employees demonstrate for their diesel workplaces
So pragmatic approaches stand in the way of Volkswagen’s radical push. “Focusing on a holistic view of Diess worldwide deserves respect,” says car expert Stefan Bratzel Center of Automotive Management (CAM). “The VW boss thus increases the pressure on all, not only on the suppliers, but also on the regulatory, policy and infrastructure.” But Bratzel sees the disadvantages of too rapid transformation. “This exacerbates the impact on employment.”
31,200 of 69,600 jobs at manufacturers of engines or combustion components such as exhaust systems, gaskets, pistons or gearboxes could be eliminated altogether in the Autoland Baden-Württemberg alone. This was announced by the state agency E-Mobil Baden-Württemberg in its study published on Monday. That just under 8,000 new jobs can be created by electric motors, is already included.
IG Metall head of district Roman Zitzelsberger assumes that well over 100,000 jobs throughout Germany are in the pipeline for transformation. “It is clear that electric mobility is much faster than we thought a year ago,” said Zitzelsberger the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”.
In a first demonstration, trade unionists pointed to the social component of the transformation. Like trade unionists, coalition politicians are calling for the creation of a commission to make change more socially acceptable.
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