Commentary: Germany's auto industry has lost its rhythm
Toyota sets standards for hybrids, China for electric cars. And the Germans? They are mainly fighting to not permanently lose the connection. However, something else would be significantly more important.
Germany's automobile industry seems to have fallen behind the curve, with 8 to 10 percent representing a critical margin for Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz in the coming years. Mercedes aims to reach this target by 2029, while Volkswagen and BMW plan to achieve it by 2030. Toyota is already close to this figure, having mastered hybrid vehicles, which are now the global standard.
Chinese manufacturers like BYD and Geely, on the other hand, are leading in battery-electric vehicles. Meanwhile, German auto makers cling to the declining technology of the internal combustion engine. This is the crux of the issue facing the German automobile industry – they are lagging behind in the technologies that will determine the future.
Today, only Volkswagen produces electric cells on an industrial scale among German manufacturers, yet they still lack the scale to compete with giants like CATL or BYD. Stellantis and Mercedes have recently abandoned or scaled down battery projects in Europe. When it comes to autonomous driving, German auto makers prefer to buy and collaborate rather than lead.
A cooperation between Volkswagen and Bosch on this front ended in failure, as they missed the opportunity to develop new AI models early on. Consequently, BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen now have little choice but to hope for two things: Firstly, maintaining their strong European market position, after China shifted to a profit-driven model and the US imposed tariffs.
Secondly, generating enough revenue from electric vehicles to make up for the decline in profits from traditional combustion engines.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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