Welding robots in a factory of the Chinese car manufacturer FAW. The Chinese car market is of growing importance for many German car suppliers. picture alliance/Xinhua News Agency/Zhang Nan
The German auto industry is facing a difficult phase.
Production figures are falling, high prices are putting customers off – and international competition is also dominating the market of the future, the e-car business.
Now another problem has arisen: The suppliers, who would otherwise have liked to work with Mercedes, BMV, Volkswagen and Co., prefer to turn to Chinese car brands.
There is a crisis in the German auto industry. Production figures have fallen, profitability is falling, e-car sales are not starting – and car dealers are appalled at the “destruction of capital” and “greed” among manufacturers.
In May, Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, warned his employees in an internal letter that “we are heading for a very difficult phase, especially in volume business”. “Important investments in the future” cannot be managed with the returns recently achieved by the main brand.
A trend that is also being observed critically by suppliers to the German automotive industry. For them, the focus is on the Chinese market when new technologies are rolled out.
Supplier boss raves about “very, very good” vehicles from China
“Chinese car manufacturers are extremely technologically savvy while developing at a high speed and use new technologies earlier than others,” said ZF board member Stephan von Schuckmann to the “Handelsblatt”. “We are already industrializing a large number of our new developments, first in China and only then in Europe.”
Von Schuckmann wants to head the ZF “Electrified Driveline Technologies” division from Shanghai in the future: “The processing quality is very high, the software competence is extraordinary. These are very, very good vehicles and they get on the road in a third of the time.”
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Interest in China business is also growing at Bosch and Marquardt.
“Competition is always good and improves the offer. This also applies to Chinese car manufacturers when they come to the German and European market with their electric models,” the “Handelsblatt” quoted statements by Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung during a technology demonstration. Hartung described all car manufacturers as fundamental customers – “especially if they appreciate our innovations”.
And if they stand for high quality. From the point of view of the German suppliers, Chinese car manufacturers can now also offer these. Harald Marquardt, head of the mechatronics company Marquardt, told the “Handelsblatt”: “With Chinese electric cars that cost more than 100,000 euros, you will hardly recognize that it is a non-European vehicle,” the business newspaper quoted the manager as saying.
Bad news for the German car companies.
jg
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