How Germany’s critical car industry could stall Europe’s biggest economy | DW News

[@kanavaro2010]

Volkswagen has demonstrated that if you become overly confident in your infallibility and stop listening to customers, it can lead to serious problems and catastrophic mistakes.

[@legendaryzfps]

@@kanavaro2010 Intel, is it you?

[@Handlebar360]

That's not just VW, the whole EU is like that

[@aryaman05]

'Listening' to customers broke dozens of companies in the corporate world. (book: The Innovator's Dilemma) VW needs to do their thing as well. Question is, what is it that they failed to do in anticipation of incoming industry and regulatory change

[@daweigo6851]

Also very poor customer service

[@BerryMike-d9v]

apple is next Nokia

[@gregculverwell]

Up until the end of the 1990s German cars were relatively expensive, but value for money due to their durability. Now they remain expensive but the durability and real quality has crashed. I owned German cars since 1985, but will never buy another. They exchanged quality for showroom appeal and greater profit. These days they are trading on the reputation they earned decades ago and the market is losing interest.

[@TechTusiast]

My thought exactly, plus what I commented later. Pretty much everyone I know says no more german cars. Most will buy Japanese.

[@jasonmugridge]

Mercedes was famously run by engineers, this ended in the 80’s after the W124. Then marketing took over and they made an awful lot of money out of us all.

[@gregculverwell]

@@jasonmugridge BMW was also a very engineering driven company. And it was BMWs that made me aware of what was going on. I had a 1991 535i which I did 450 000 km in. Then I traded it for a 2001 M5 The M5 was just junk. I actually bought the 535 back from the dealer a few weeks later to serve as a lifeboat car for friends and family - it did another 100 000 like that before circumstances changed and I sold it again. It was still running perfectly with the only unusual expense being a cracked radiator in all that time.

[@AndrewBlinson]

Disagree I have Skoda Octavia III and had before Passat B6 w/ both I drove 450 thousand km and Skoda was extremely reliable.

[@youxkio]

Add Toyota to that!

[@stickynorth]

Inflated margins on poor quality vehicles and you wonder why people don't buy? REALLY?

[@Neverforget133]

That's exactly true over priced poor quality garbage built to breakdown impossible to fix unless it goes to a mega overpriced garage cheap metal cheap everything except the price to buy it

[@blanamaxima]

I don't think that is an issue. If you compare german car statistics with the rest , build quality is excellent. The switch to electric is killing them.

[@zojapopovic]

S500 will survive. I drive cars. That is the only car i would like to have.

[@markomacek920]

@@howellstevens9622 I'd strongly prefer old bland&boring (especially interior), just make it electric and/or plugin-hybrid.

[@anemeth9281]

Exactly! Cars are double priced compared to 5-6 yrs ago and their quality, reliability is worse. The tough regulations should be blamed too

[@bordersw1239]

Toyota cars - 10 year warranty, Kia, MG 7 year warranty. European cars. -3 year warranty. You need to show the public you have confidence in your own products.

[@theotheleo6830]

10-year warranty for Toyota? Which cars? Most of their cars are 3-years bumper to bumper.

[@bordersw1239]

@@theotheleo6830 . All of them in the U.K.

[@lozkko]

​@@bordersw1239no it is 3 years in the UK for Toyota. It can be extended to 10 years, after the 3 year warranty expires, but you need to pay for it. Most manufacturers offer such extended warranties (I used to take one on my Renault), but it gets very expensive quickly. I agree that Kia, MG, Hyundai all offer much longer warranties.

[@lozkko]

Ok, you don't need to pay, just checked the T&C's, but you need to have it serviced at Toyota dealers. Similar idea (as you pay much more for servicing than at an independent garage).

[@palanisamymurugan3943]

​@@lozkko10 years warranty in Malaysia

[@dr4jm]

Mass production was suppose to make things cheaper but corporatization pushed prices up. Look at the CEO pay, the layers of accountants and lawyers. Its not only cars but every industry.

[@m0o0n0i0r]

thing is, governments need prices to go up so they can say GDP has gone up so then they pretend their economies are growing. Higher prices means higher GDP.

[@ADa89mixus]

Ai will make profits even bigger, but none of it will flow back to people. Guaranteed.

[@wolfram77]

I see standardization as a force that will push prices down. May the force be with you

[@Basement_stories]

It's mostly due to money printing and tariffs. Otherwise ppl would buy chinese BYD for 10k$.

[@szurketaltos2693]

If you had engineers fine build everything in a modern car (other than parts that are impossible to do so like chips), it would be far more expensive. Corporate profits are generally too high, but let's be real about the deflationary impact of industrial technology.

[@RK-ve4xp]

Start producing cars that one can buy instead of producing highly expensive cars which nobody can afford to buy.

[@JanNowak-q7m]

There is no possibility to indicate the date VW will be able to deliver cars that people would like to buy and could afford it.

[@andrewmackinnon563]

​@JanNowak-q7m how are the regulations there if you go for a 1980/90's mercedes w124 or similar in Europe? I did that and is completely affordable

[@FunnyBunny-pd5xx]

I believe, the most lucrative market for German Manufactured Vehicles was Russia. NOW.....due ..... to 14 Rounds of Sanctions passed by The European Union, against Russia this market has been closed. NOW Chinese Manufactured Vehicles are increasingly being driven in Russia. Their percentage share of the market, has dramatically increased since 2021.

But those doesn't have gigantic margins, could you please think about the shareholders?

[@indomieforlife]

I can't tell if youre joking or not 🥲(replying to comment above)

[@noneofyourbusiness5433]

This video only needs to be 30 seconds long. The reason they are failing is because their cars are overly complicated, unreliable and expensive to repair.

[@stefanhaeussler821]

I dont think they are over complicated, they are just like any other car today but overly expensive. Nowadays a vw golf starts from 23k, thats crazy!

[@3184Patrick]

and not enough EV

[@brownhairydog6472]

It's not that simple. Cars have traditionally been separate to other commoditized goods. They are incredibly expensive, develop and produce which is why many countries subsidise automakers as the risks are high and the margins can be very low. In the past, Mercedes and the other German automakers were technologically ahead and could therefore charge more for features. Nowadays almost all cars have a large set of features and in many ways The car market resembles the phone market where aside from Apple, all other phones are basically the same. In this environment, it's very difficult for a legacy automaker to survive without significant government support. On top of that no country can compete with the low wages found in China and other Asian markets, which is why everything else is made in China. Cars are simply following

[@GSC084]

@@brownhairydog6472 you seem to contradict yourself a bit in this story. If you compare it to the phone industry, you could see that this comparison is shaky. Flagship phones rise in price, but the budget phones (which every brand has) are affordable. The budget cars are no longer affordable new. People are leasing cars that would have been an out of pocket expense a decade ago. These same cars are being produced by China at a much lower price. And China is not the cheap labour country it used to be. In Europe we are paying for the inefficacy of the auto makers.

[@domefford864]

Software in the mk8 golf is useless. They knew it didn’t work but released it anyway. They only have themselves to blame

[@lachlanwaite9084]

German arrogance, this has been predictable for at least 10 years.

[@legendaryzfps]

30 years. Nothing has been done for 30 years in this short country

[@alexlopez5800]

Bot account

[@lechpiszczatowski4064]

Also, have you noticed what the guest, Herr Breski, had to say about Germany’s energy and migration policies, which failed to reduce labor costs? Those things are probably irrelevant.

[@iFryTube]

EU is far behind China and USA so its the continent as a whole

[@blanamaxima]

​@@iFryTubein what exactly?

[@samuelburton5576]

The Chinese learned from Germans and used their greed against them. Plain and simple. All strategic

[@bota02i]

Chinese EVs have nothing to learn from the Germans

[@xiaoxiao2259]

中国政府只是专心的发展经济，不热衷于参与美国发动的战争。中国即不参与阿富汗战争，也没有参与伊拉克战争，更没有参与俄乌战争。但欧洲国家却热衷配合美国发动一次次对外战争。人的精力是有限的，当你照顾了这头，那头自然就没有足够的能力完成。

[@SigFigNewton]

@@xiaoxiao2259remind me which country it is that has the fastest growing navy in the world

[@xiaoxiao2259]

@@SigFigNewton 其实我也很纳闷，北约国家的军费是同期中国的5倍。怎么每年下水的军舰却只和中国持平。这些钱到底到哪去了？我完全无法想象!

[@xiaoxiao2259]

@@SigFigNewton 中国政府把钱花到了该用的地方，出来的成果大家看得到。该反思的不是中国，而是我来自西方的朋友们。

[@bogdanpotorac9463]

They probably thought people will be buying the same 2.0 tdi engines until 2050, at higher and higher prices

[@paulb7207]

with cheap Russian energy Germans could pull it off. As these VWs would be cheap. With gas energy in Germany as expensive as it is now producing cars, whether electric or ICE -- just doesn't make economic sense.

[@jayc342009]

​@@paulb7207 how can they pull it off when they're trying to phase out diesel cars?

[@paulb7207]

@@jayc342009 they have been able to lobby not only the German Government but Brussels too -- for decades. The point is that even to build EV cars you still need cheap energy. And Germany doesn't have that anymore. Whatever they want to produce they need cheap gas. They don't have it. So no matter what, they are going to get hit really hard.

[@rohan_3128]

And they barely even give 2.0 TDi at affordable prices, all they give is the 1.0 tsi 3 cylinders

[@JsBlazIN]

German cars aren’t selling as well not because of china but because of increased pricing and lower quality vehicles. There’s almost 0 innovation as well

[@BureaucracyWorld]

I worked in a German company as a production manager for car parts dpt. They are arrogance, it's true. In a small production change, or to make a small correction on a product. I had to go through all kinds of red tapes, writing a report, it must be approved by several people. Many times, QC found a small problem. He or she was not bothered to report the problem for that reason.

[@tricepsbrachii]

Come on, in Germany they still use fax machines for heavens sake. They are so far behind.

[@robertbslee4209]

So does American and Japanese car makers

[@yo2trader539]

Keeping a paper trail is sometimes very useful.

[@sorinelpustiu5674]

​@@robertbslee4209 Yup, that's why the Chinese are winning now

[@tricepsbrachii]

Why is it good to have a paper trail? Why not store it on a computer?

[@GSSurry]

I have not seen a fax machine for 20 years in Australia. Electronic signatures are the norm.

[@cw3728]

I bought a 2016 Audi A3 Quattro, was socked it didnt have heated seats, fold in mirrors, tinted windows, illuminated sun visor mirrors, cargo net in the boot. Everything is an extra yet they are expensive. Now they all have touch screens, the controls down by the gear shift were great, just so tight.

[@DavidHazelhof]

This is what happens when you deliver mediocre quality and innovations, but still wants big margins.

[@amandagrant4331]

German manufacturers like to go against their customers.

[@Max-us5xl]

what are you talking about ?😂

[@slowinq8110]

@@Max-us5xlhe’s right

[@Max-us5xl]

@@slowinq8110 Everyone talking about margin without putting a f-king thought in it. VW margins are average on auto industry, some Chinese car brands have even higher margin. China exploit their low cost labour (comparing to Germany) and money from Government, and Germany automakers were too comfortable for the last decade without competition. But I doubt China automakers can last long on such thin legs, there are already bankruptcies, will see who has more money

[@HabenTsehaye-p7g]

​@@Max-us5xlthere will no comeback for VW.

[@gunesinan814]

About 10 years ago, I interviewed at a top German company. My presentation opened with Darwin's quote: "It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most adaptive to change." It was too much for the MBA crowd - they couldn't handle discussions on structural or mindset changes. They didn't hire me, but looking back, the writing was on the wall for companies resistant to change. What are the major innovations of the VW group (including Porsche) in the last 50 years? Almost nothing comes in my mind except the refinement of the PDK transmission over the years. When you ask them, they will probably say they believe in evolution, rather than revolution, but the fact is they neither made a revolution nor did they evolve better or faster than the competition.

[@nemokat09]

They spent their resources on developing the cheat device 😂😂

[@ЮрийМоисеенко-ц9о]

In that case, you probably know what breakthrough innovations the Chinese have implemented. Maybe you're looking for problems in the wrong place? Perhaps the problems began when politicians began dictating to industrialists what they should do? Perhaps the Western economic model of optimizing production and reducing costs led to the financier at the enterprise dictating his terms to the designer? Perhaps the forced transition to electric vehicles (without a program for the extraction and processing of the necessary materials, without proven technological solutions, etc.) was unbridled populism? Perhaps expensive energy does not allow the plant to operate cheaply? So maybe you should look for problems in the European Parliament? Or who controls and maintains them?

[@rl7586]

Don’t bring Porsche into this! They are miles ahead of VW

[@Twin.motors]

​@@rl7586Porsche is VW, they share so so many parts. They're the same brand with the same products

[@nderezic]

Well the same can be said about cell phone manufacturers. Nothing revolutionary happened in last 10 years. Each new model is just an incremental evolution of the previous one. Why change things if the money is good.

[@caiosantos35]

If you want to innovate, don't ask to economist what to do, but engineer.

[@SigFigNewton]

The economist will find jobs to cut, improving profit margins while your company slowly becomes obsolete and bleeds revenue.

[@m0o0n0i0r]

@@SigFigNewton the economist would want low quality products off the production line so consumers have to spend more money fixing them. This increases GDP so we can say that the economy is growing. I know my statment is a total falacy in the real world, but economist dont live in the real world as they try and model it.

[@SigFigNewton]

@@m0o0n0i0r paying one man to dig a hole and another man to fill it would increase GDP. Me buying a concert ticket for five hundred bucks, then realizing that I can’t go to the concert and selling it to my friend for five hundred bucks, then them selling it to someone else the day before the concert for 800 bucks because no tickets are available and my friend knew that was really just using my ticket to make money… that adds 1800 to GDP even if the final buyer crashes on the way to the concert and zero people receive the live music service being sold.

[@SigFigNewton]

@@m0o0n0i0r then repairs on that car add to GDP. It’s all suuuper productive

[@m0o0n0i0r]

​@@SigFigNewton If a lot of cars come in with faults, and im understaffed, I need more workers to fix them. So I might get workers from abroad as all the available workers are exhausted doing their work. So I increase the population, this means that sure GDP goes up, but GDP per capita remains the same as does productivity if we do worker per hour. The bigger problem however is we never calculate the loss of productivity in the sense of the person who is without a car so they could not get to work. This loss is never seen and never measured, and this is why economics will not ever be accurate IMO.

[@eannamc]

Make cars cheaper. A mid spec 3 Series is now 60K+ that's mad

[@AbuSayyaf963]

In China, the BMW 3 Series only sells for 25k. And it still can't compete with other manufacturers.

[@rkan2]

​@@AbuSayyaf963The EV BMW doesn't have taxes in China. E.g. not that cheap in reality, but still almost half the price.

[@thetableflip]

There is no way you can make European or US cars cheaper. Labour is not cheap, energy is not cheap. Less people can afford cars so they start to charge more to compensate for declining demand.

[@denisbeslimov2279]

No, 3 series in China cost more than in Germany. No 3 series costs 25k, or else everyone will be driving one and exporting them to countries where they cost 60k.

[@paulb7207]

Jeep Wrangler is 60k+ too...

[@patrickcowan8701]

It's not only VW that is experiencing decline. Most of the west is on the same track. To comfortable to innovate.

[@paulb7207]

Nope. The US isn't. ChatGPT for one, Tesla for two, Starlink, this and that. EU is old and about to die. But that's EU only. EU is tiny. For example EU is responsible for less than 10% worldwide iPhone sales. It's small market. With no ambition, a lot of restrictions, falling behind both US and Asia *very* fast.

[@jayc342009]

​@@paulb7207 look at the US debt, soon your currency will be worth nothing. You are definitely on the decline

[@Twin.motors]

​@@paulb7207 your examples are whack lol Apple has a stronghold on north America so clearly sales are small in Europe where most people use android flagships not iphones. EU is not dying anytime soon 😂

[@K2ELP]

​@@paulb7207the EU still has the largest interior market in the world, it's even larger than Chinas at the moment

[@paulb7207]

@@K2ELP Facts: EU is 15% of world economy. USA is 26% of world economy. China is 19% of world economy. Source: wikipedia. Keep dreamin'

[@turbolevo8703]

I’ve felt like Germany has been living on ‘easy street’ for a while now. I’ve had this feeling for over a decade. Not dredging the Rhine and having ships get stuck on sandbanks was a ‘tell’ for living on ‘easy street’. Germany has had it good for so long. Now cheap reliable energy is gone, the cars are mediocre at best and the Chinese are nibbling away at your auto industry. VW is finished. We British have already experienced what is happening to German industry and auto making. On the horizon for Germany is great political turbulence. Lots of angry ex auto workers and industry workers.

[@frenchonion4595]

Which is not good because we all know what the Germans are capable of during hard times.

[@Normie-jo7cj]

@@frenchonion4595lose another world war? They already lost 2 wars I don’t think they want a 3 one. Lol

[@patrickcowan8701]

Comfort is death. Krishnamurthy.

[@patrickpirzer4080]

From my perspective as a german i think this is part of the new "German hybris" wich began with the Reunification in 1990.

[@gfys756]

​@@frenchonion4595Those Germans don't exist anymore. The world made sure of that. 👍🏿

[@Eduard.Popa.]

HOW ??? HOW?? Making cheap and good EV !!! When Tesla was worth 10% of VW, Tesla were building supercharge network on 3 continents !!!! And German auto makers what they do ??? DIESEL GATE !!!

[@antebratincevic6764]

Diesel gate has been done by US as well as Nord Stream pipelines.

[@Twin.motors]

The only EV brand on planet earth that cares about it's customers is Tesla. The only proof you need to see is the Tesla supercharger network, nobody else even attempted to build a network

[@pietroantonioni3207]

There is Free suggestion for VW and all western automakers- develop and produce new Beettle - a car for people- inexpensive, simple and reliable !!! That what most of people need as personal transportation ! Most of buyers don't need a fancy personal computer on wheels with 3 sec from 0 to 100 km/hr ! INEXPENSIVE, SIMPLE, RELIABLE in one package!!!

[@Twin.motors]

EVs fast acceleration is a side effect. It costs nothing more to make a 300hp motor vs a 200hp motor.

[@damyanovasen]

A ten year old Golf diesel costs less than 10k bought, registered and serviced and can be driven for ten more years. What more do you want?

[@Twin.motors]

@@damyanovasen that's a used vehicle. Who said anything about used cars ? You can buy a 10 yr old Zoe or Leaf for less than that if used is what you want

[@ddominio]

If you go to the VW dealer in Canada they charge $25/ L of oil, $700 for spare key, $1500 for brake change. I dont understand why people dont buy VW???

[@Twin.motors]

To be fair Honda, Mazda charge the same. A service for my Mx5 is the same as on my CLS at the dealership

[@frankwei8691]

@@Twin.motors should consider a Tesla. I owned for 2 years, only costs me $45 to rotate the tyres

[@Twin.motors]

@frankwei8691 I'm team Tesla and have been for years 😁 Proud Model Y owner

[@thomasl6912]

I'm sorry but the quality is low and price is almost as high as BMA car. Obviously, nobody will buy VWs at that price range.

[@sc00bs63]

funny, in Toronto the worlds car theft capital, German cars are safe. No one steals them. That says something.....

[@VidPS]

Are the cars not being stolen manuals?

[@marcelpatel9017]

They don't steal them because they depreciate faster than a lead balloon. They are also not reliable for the countries they are taken to.

[@GlobexCorporationHank]

That's not true. They are stolen a lot. For export to outside markets.

[@BEGGARWOOD1]

Britain in the 1960 made some of the most innovative cars. 20 years later it was all gone . Germany has made some of the best ICE cars in the world, EV removed a lot of barriers to entry and the big German brands were to slow to adapt

[@lupolinar]

If not many people want to buy them, what can they do? The government was and is too slow to build a charging infrastructre and they messed it up by not making a unified system.

[@alexejvornoskov6580]

@@lupolinar They can sell them on Chinese market or any other market with high EV sales. Yet they somehow manage to build EVs that are worse then what chinese brands make. And they can sell affordable cars - VW now cost double of what it used to, it removed itself from the market.

[@stefanhaeussler821]

​@lupolinar People don't buy their cars because they are outdated compared to the chinese, just look at byd, zeeker and xpeng, years ahead of any legacy automaker

[@AtAllAnAlias]

I think thats not true in the long term it will be like Tesla. Once there is a certain rash built architecture it can't be changed that fast. So what I mean: The innovation curve will be fast at first but longterm will slow down significantly.

[@lupolinar]

@@stefanhaeussler821 If Byd is the bar, it must be pretty low. A friend of mine had one, because it was cheap and he had many problems and visits to repair shop. Luckily the EV market is dumb and he sold it for almost the same price 6 months later.

[@alf699]

As a German living overseas and always having been proud of our quality manufacturing, I can now honestly say that compared to a lot of other overseas manufacturers....our products are now rubbish! They have been living on their past reputation for over 30 years now while producing cheap inferior products at ridiculous prices. Customers are paying through their nose for design defects. Their warranties are below or barely on par with far cheaper products...The names of the big German manufacturers have been heavily corroded and will possibly never recover again. That's what happens when you replace your pride in your product with pure profit greed.

[@skrevox]

Somehow all the German car manufacturers have still not figured out how to make a timing chain that can last 200k KM 💀

[@FreeWanderingThinker]

Interessanterweise haben viele den Diesel-Skandal vergessen.

[@alf699]

@@FreeWanderingThinker Warshanlisch dadurch das die anderen genau das selbe machten....LOL (Yes, my German sucks...it's been ever 40years since I have been back).

[@theylive8256]

​@@skrevox some old german cars made some engines (BMW) that you needed to check the timing chain at 250.000 miles from factory! ;) and it has a double timing chan (Duplexkette). But if we should talk about new german cars upwards 2005 the manufacturing quality went really bad...

[@zdenekkindl2778]

I know some Germans living here in Canada. Not one of them drives german made car.

[@TinyBlitz8]

German vehicles are very well known to be highly unreliable and have high maintenance costs.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

You have 10 year To adapt to ev.But you wasted it.

[@erggolly7984]

German car parts are extremly expensive

[@patrickdegenaar9495]

The big thing missing in the discussion is the massive lack of automation and thus bloated workfirce at VW. It takes Tesla 10 labour hours to build a car vs 32 for VW. So it is hard to renain comprtitive when you have 3x the workforce.

[@hitardo]

EU is ideologically blind to the fact that China is responsible for 34% of the Air Pollution. Moreover, China is followed by the USA, India, and Russia. These four countries account for almost 60% of the entire air pollution. The EU wants to reach an insane target, which (a) its citizens are not willing to reach, and (b) its economy is not ready to endure. On a more personal level, I am not seeing how I can charge my EV, given that I live in an apartment, without access to an electrical outlet. Sometimes, I do not even have a close by parking space - let alone an electrical outlet. How am I suppose to buy an EV? And did anyone asked me if I want an EV? My 23 year old gasoline powered vehicle, weighting 1.100 kg is more environmentally friendly than a 1.700 kg EV - I can tell you that much! The last time we followed the EU guidelines on vehicles, we ended up with Diesel dominating our cities, which emit a lot of NOx and PM2.5. Do we trust politicians to understand engineering, chemistry, life-cycle management, and environmental impact?

[@JackRannoch]

It was already looking rough for the Germans before this was an issue: *April IMF projections (Real Growth 2025-2029)* Germany: ~5% For contrast: US: ~10%, Netherlands: ~9%, Poland: ~16%

[@paulb7207]

fun fact: Poland real (accounting for inflation) wages growth y/o/y: 11%.

[@Twin.motors]

​@@paulb7207that's still pretty good

[@foosimon7537]

why blame Chinese EV for your failure? Bezos said your margin is my opportunity. German cars had been living a good life too long, forgot to bring superior products for clients at reasonable price.

[@adrianspinu4653]

you know somebody has no idea what they are talking about when they say the german car industry was not focusing on innovation and technology when in fact that is the opposite, they were focusing so much on packing as much technology as possible in the cars that they became more expensive and less reliable, that’s the reason people buy them less than before, at least in eu

[@smsfsyd]

My VW tiguan transmission was dead just outside the warranty. VW was adamant and I end up spending $5k on the mechatronics. The company lacks some serious moral issues. I dont know how many customers they cheated on.. karma bites back.

[@TFSIChristmas]

Made in Mexico

[@TFSIChristmas]

Where was it made

[@TFSIChristmas]

Ñ

[@28naveenator27van]

Tell me about lacking moral issues. My kia fortes engine melted down. Kia refused to honor the repair. The forte sits dead beside the garage while I try to get the warranty honored. Grrrr.

[@TFSIChristmas]

@@28naveenator27van true same with Hyundai issues, in Spain these Korean cars are literally bring people to death.

[@marktrinidad7650]

Europe has a century start of investing in Africa but have done nothing.

[@josepedrosantiagosilva9625]

- Companies were too dependent on cheap gas from Russia. - Old CEOs are stuck in the past, refusing to let younger talent with fresh ideas take the lead. They're focused on slow progress and quick sales rather than real innovation. - To make matters worse, they’ve outsourced knowledge and production to China for cheap labor, closing European factories.

[@luihinwai1]

There isnt a new car company from Europe for the last 50 years, there is 1 from the US (Tesla) and more than 100 in China. That's why Europe is way behind on technological progress

[@aubergine10]

Europe spent all its money on bombs fighting forever wars in middle east. And now Europeans wonder why everything is defecate.

[@Peter-je6td]

Nar it's the eco nut job agenda of EVs it will bankrupt the world

[@AllieRogers-mq1kf]

Only one from USA? Look again. Lucid, Rivian, Tesla, etc

[@matsmcmats]

Um, we've been building cars in europe for 100+ years 😂😂😂 It's a mature industry. The (international) car industry is a new thing in China. Japanese cars really started growing in the 70s and a lot of new brands came to the west and now china comes along.

[@amandagrant4331]

European manufacturers fantasize about making profits from ICE cars for a lifetime, just as Kodak fantasizes about making profits from film for a lifetime.

[@karlInSanDiego]

Uninformed analysis about Germany not understanding how to innovate with EVs. Tech bro oversimplification. EVs are far less profitable because inclusion of large batteries increased cost in unavoidable way. No one is profiting reliably with EVs including Tesla once competition was present in the market. BMW and Porsche have built world class EVs, but to avoid losing money on each sale, they must charge more than an ICE car. China has no profitable EV only company, and they are at overcapacity and are facing a larger crisis than German automakers. The truth is that the world has surpassed peak car. From this point forward, most societies will consume less cars per year and the industry is experiencing an inevitable shrinking. Auto manufacturers should focus their attention on mass transit and micromobility, which are the sustainable transportation options. Cars are dying out.

[@Luchsio]

Great comment.

[@privateprofile3517]

The current global EV car fleet is 1.1 % of the total car fleet ( IEA data 2023) . What do you think will have to the rest of 98.9 % fleet ? Even if we assume car numbers will reduce by 50 % in 2030 ( will need some transportation innovation in next 2-3 for this to happen) , we will still have a 50x market share possibility for EV or some sustainable tech cars. So don't you think your assumption is kind wrong ?

[@abcdeffilms]

Tesla Makes 9,000 USD per car it produces mate. It’s the most profitable car and EV company. It’s great that you wasted time writing a whole load of nothingness

[@karlInSanDiego]

@@privateprofile3517 my comment is with respect to countries relying on an automotive industry to be the backbone of its economy. USA is equally problematic compared to Germany. We make bad, unsustainable choices to defend and protect jobs and the economy, instead of taking an honest look at the externality impact that cars have on society. We assume they are good for us.

[@privateprofile3517]

@@karlInSanDiego okay but you told , " the world " has reached peak car demand, my comment is regarding that . Cars are dying out but in like 20-30 years maybe

[@programming658]

CFO of Volkswagen already told, if they don't do significant actions, company has only 1-2 years time. Everyone, I am saying everyone in automative knows that 1-2 years in automative is like 1-2 months in other industries. That means, Volkswagen is already bankrupt

[@mikafiltenborg7572]

VW debt. : 192,000,000,000 $.....

[@yo2trader539]

They're Germans. They're always grim. VW's operating earnings in 1H in 2024 was €10bn. There is only one automaker that can make more money than VW in the entire world.

[@ethimself5064]

@@mikafiltenborg7572 😱Yikes

[@programming658]

@@mikafiltenborg7572 it's crazy. I didn't know this

[@lupolinar]

VW made 600 Billion in 2023 and had a debt of roughly 160 billion (87 in long term debt) - lower then 2022. If they actually start saving and reduce their ridiculous wages, they can make it.

[@althyk]

Blaming external factors, a business model that does not age well is because it failed from within.

[@AndyRussell-c9p]

Maybe VW shouldn’t have fired Herbert Diess?

[@gamingbigfilipp]

thats what happens when you stop buying cheap gas from Russia and at the same time close your nuclear power plant for no reason the energy cost is rising there

[@amandagrant4331]

In fact, the whole of Europe is still indirectly buying Russian oil and gas, but the price is higher than before.

[@gamingbigfilipp]

@@amandagrant4331 exactly , i think they buy it from Turkey, then they say that russia is at fault lol , they stopped buying gas from them and then say that russia is using energy as a tool.

[@Sprinklebesties]

Replacing low cost energy from Russia with high cost energy from USA is going to harm your economy. Its basic math

[@gregoryedwards9097]

Exactly lmao. The US is using these countries like pawns. Europe, Ukraine, Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, they will use them all. That’s how much they’re afraid of China surpassing them and now that China and Russia are working together, they just made their situation far worse.

[@calc1657]

That has nothing to do with the failure to anticipate the rise of EVs.

[@amandagrant4331]

Germany can use expensive US natural gas to produce high-priced cars and get higher profits.

[@user-nh1yb9mk7y]

Having a conflict with the US is more expensive

[@kalinokipika7778]

Be serious, the economist is also talking about Germany's economy in whole, what caused many of your companies to relocate?​@@calc1657

[@chelarucristian554]

Ask the founders and executives what did they do with money, beside buying new castles and new yachts, in the last 20 years.

[@JG-xi4tu]

As a german; hardship will make us more efficient and less bureaucratic. That's good. Survival of the fittest😄

[@kaylee9069]

Zu spät...

[@JG-xi4tu]

@kaylee9069 Besser spät als nie 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@alexpavlov3535]

Germany is not independent - blow of of Nord Stream and nobody is responsible. Cheap energy not available for Germany anymore. Market of Russia is closed for German cars - they are still available, but being overpriced most of customers select Chinese cars. Who else is buying German cars? China itself substitutes German cars with Chinese. Asian markets do not have moneys to pay for overpriced German products. In US - we all remember diesel gate… now German producers are pushed to relocate ones production to US. By I swear - margins for German producers in US are smaller. So let’s wait for BASF closing factories in Germany, steel producers closing there factories, glass producers, paper producers and so on - all energy consuming sectors will be down. In fact Germany was killing its automotive industry by all this Euro 4,5,6. Being most competitive in diesel engines Germany shut ones leg by forbidding it.

[@Handlebar360]

My professors is always mad at the concept of giving your technology to China, if you want to manufacture there. All the R&D is done in Germany, and the China bought the technology by enticing companies with cheap manufacturing. Now they turn around and update that technology and flooding cheap products into Germany.

[@PassiveJoy]

But if u don’t manufacture in China, u lose that market. German labor cost+shipping cost+tariffs->most Chinese won’t buy overpriced imported German vehicles. Then where do u get the funding to support R&D back in Germany? The only way to stay competitive is to innovate faster than anyone else, instead the money made in China goes to the pocket of shareholders not into R&D. That’s why Germany is so lagging behind.

[@pipiqiqi4010]

actually, most of the foreign companies in China have not put their real R&D in China, the so-called R&D department just is a division to transfer the mature technology to China market, and this technology is behind than the headquarters of the company.

[@hi4806]

Germans are still ahead of China in gasoline cars, while China mainly relies on electric cars to catch up with Germans.

[@paulb7207]

It is so funny because the opposite is actually true. EU car manufacturers like VW and Stellantis buy licensing for Chinese car software for EVs. That's a fact, so check your facts first. German R&D is so 20th century. Mechanical and manufacturing. Modern cars, especially EVs, are all about software. And Germans are not good in software engineering. They build one thing, SAP, that actually can be rigid, slow, and overengineered as it is B2B software, so nobody cares. And software development methodology is agile. While 20th car manufacturing is rigid engineering. You can't have the same culture to support both. This is the real reason german car industry is falling behind so quickly.

[@paulb7207]

It is so funny because the opposite is actually true. EU car manufacturers like VW and Stellantis buy licensing for Chinese car software for EVs. That's a fact, so check your facts first. German R&D is so 20th century. Mechanical and manufacturing. Modern cars, especially EVs, are all about software. And Germans are not good in software engineering. They build one thing, SAP, that actually can be rigid, slow, and overengineered as it is B2B software, so nobody cares. And software development methodology is agile. While 20th car manufacturing is rigid engineering. You can't have the same culture to support both. This is the real reason german car industry is falling behind so quickly.

[@Format090]

How on earth is that company's ceo not fired yet?!! The insistence on failed policies with not enough profits. Insiting on making cars no body wants. Gigantic profit margins etc etc. i believe this is not just failure, its corruption!

[@MrWhitmen1981]

Germany need to build cars we want. I swear by Toyota, cheap reliable.

[@aacmove]

We are nearly half way to 2030 and they should have been on the shelf for the past three years at least.

[@banzonGreat]

Nah! Toyota will be next to go bankrupt if they don't UP their EV game...

[@alexejvornoskov6580]

@@banzonGreat Nope, Toyota doing exactly right by selling affordable cars worldwide. Majority of coutries worldwide not going to be able to support EV infrastracture for next 50 years at least. And Toyota will monopolize that market. All while still selling other cars in countries that can pay more. They may not earn much on the cars, but they will have stable income for long time, all while car makers that only sell in premium markets will be hit hard unless they change their ways.

[@Luka_3D]

@@alexejvornoskov6580 Eh toyota is changing it's mind. It will probably codevelop evs with byd in the near future. I doubt they are going anywhere.

[@KamBar2020]

Hyunadai and Kia : Please, hold our Kimchi and SOJU 🍶

[@Nom_AnorVSJedi]

This is what happens when you underestimate China 🇨🇳 🐉.

[@ernstschwaig4667]

No, this happens if managers fail. German car CEO's are famous for disastrous decisions.

[@wolfswinkel8906]

​​​@@ernstschwaig4667 no, that's what happens when you sanction your chief energy supplier, Russia. The cost competitiveness is lost overnight. That advantage has gone to China.

[@Norwegian733]

Yeah, they are extremely good thiefs.

[@siddheshshivraj3534]

​@@wolfswinkel8906 Stop with the gas blame game. The German technology and affordability is far behind it's asian rivals

[@wolfswinkel8906]

@@siddheshshivraj3534 clearly you don't know anything about running a business. All the nuances of running costs vs revenue and balancing books is lost on you.

[@DSAK55]

What Germany needs is a small economical car for the masses

[@ev.c6]

😂😂😂😂

[@christiankammer2379]

Yes, like a literal "Volkswagen", i.e. a car for/of the people.

[@Jonas-Seiler]

What Germany needs is better land use regarding proximity of jobs and services to housing and vice versa, public transport and good infrastructure for non-motorized transport.

[@legendaryzfps]

Electric*

[@amandagrant4331]

Cheap cars will make VW lose money. VW would rather go bankrupt than lower the price of its products.

[@listerine-pr5lt]

To look at it realistically in the long run Germany has to admit the fact that Chinese can make it cheaper and nearly the same quality with an advantage of 1 billion plus domestic market. There can only remain a small niche for German high performance / Luxury cars in future.

[@zcsensor9675]

Cheaper and better quality. Open your eyes.

[@kjkj4725]

Mazdas are my love - we have a 3rd one, we upgraded from mazda2 to CX5 because of new family member - Our mazdas never broke down randomly, they never disappointed us. We will stick to Mazdas to the rest of our lives 😂

[@EvrenBuilds]

Owned a CX5 for almost 10 years, no issues.

[@marisfreimanis8172]

In Latvia a new VW Golf (Life version, w/o any extras) diesel costs 32.243 eur. Nice.

[@shencity8161]

BMW China's sales in August shrank to 40,000 vehicles, more than half compared with July, and the brand premium has become weak.

[@nguyep4]

The new premium is not in materials but also software. BMW and the likes are in trouble.

[@samuelburton5576]

China had a rule that foreign companies wanting in the Chinese market had to partner with Chinese companies. Why, to learn from them and then turn around and compete against them and run them out of business. greed is what's hurting Germany, and indeed the Western world.

[@AbuSayyaf963]

@@samuelburton5576 At least China's conditions are open, you can choose to go or not, look at India, when you go there, they will change the law so that your money cannot leave India

[@Chengdu_Urban_Pulse]

@@samuelburton5576 Now that the Chinese market has been opened, all car companies can hold 100% of the shares. Tesla has already done this, and BMW also has a company that holds 70% of the shares.

[@jokeychin]

@@samuelburton5576 Stop talking nonsense, German cars have ruled the Chinese market for 30 years and Chinese car brands have been half dead until the advent of electric cars gave Chinese cars a break, stop portraying Germany as so generous.

[@rassel9663]

when your government works for benefit of other countries not your own country then what do you expect to happen???

[@joey3291]

There is a simply way out: make good quality products and sell them at a competitive price.

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

The profit margins would evaporate in such a scenario

[@jayc342009]

​@zuzanazuscinova5209 then they go bust, people don't have the money to buy expensive and unreliable german cars.

[@aacmove]

You cannot legislate me to buy a car I don't want, and manufacturers cannot sell me one either.

[@Hypocritial]

Absolutely

[@urbansenicar81]

Yes, they can.

[@vervetech9395]

Subsidies will incentivize people to buy. At least Germany will be spending taxpayer's money in Germany instead of waste it elsewhere.

[@aacmove]

@@urbansenicar81 not really. I will hold onto my Hybrid until I'm in nappies.

[@-Nobody-1]

Its actually the opposite. The EU wants the industry to fail so people dont have the option to have individual transportation.

[@richardsimms251]

Excellent guest and discussion

[@JustHavingBlast]

Making poor quality plastic cars, which fall apart fast, plus extremely expensive maintenance and cost of parts. They did it to themselves, there is reason why people turn more and more to Japanese cars.

[@bartoski-ag]

because Japanese cars aren't plastic? 😂 more plastic than barbie. you must be from the USA, in Europe plastic is banned

[@mch0lic]

My parents to this day drive german cars, but neither me nor my sister ever bought a german car. From my perspective its out of reach financially, not as reliable as japanese cars and also expensive to maintain and you also have anti-consumer practices like heated seat subscriptions from BMW. Now all that entertainment on wheels, I personally really want physical buttons, and smaller screen. I really like mazda's interiors - buttons, relatively small screen instead of huge tablets and multiple screens. I understand that luxury brands/models have better margins, but middle class is shrinking, younger people have less income and spend more on housing and food, you don't need to be expert to see that your target market is shrinking.

[@marcvb3364]

100% agree with you

[@pt020]

Mazda interior is stolen from Alfa Romeo.

[@zdenekkindl2778]

You are correct. In 1989 I purchased Mazda 626 LX Coupe with manual transmission and radio. Excelent engineering, simplicity and harmony. Everything you need and nothing you don’t!

[@marcvb3364]

@@pt020 Nobody cares about such things apart from car nerds tough.

[@cbkam1378]

In my +25 years working in China and bought one or two VW at work every decade, I can share with you that VW are raising the price and lowering the car quality. My Passat bought in late 90s has a better quality than Golf that I bought in 2021 for my wife. The Golf is so noisy and the air conditioner is either too cold or not cold. I returned to the dealership at least 3 or 4 times because of the software computer control need to fix something and two censors on the back of the car. I am going to buy a VW UNYS this year end. Hope VW wakes up and do a good job this time. This could be my last vote on VW. VW just abuse the trust consumers gave to them. Most of mt friends had left VW for other brands or car.

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

Just buy a Toyota

[@browngreen933]

Scotty Kilmer single-handedly killed the German car industry with his endless repetition that modern German cars are endless money pits. 😢

[@speculawyer]

He's an old crank.

[@ohcanadaeh]

But the Chinese love the German luxury badges before the rise of Chinese EVs that put the German brands to shame.

[@unojayc]

Even Scotty knows German made is the key factor. Made in America for German car's has it's issues.

[@yemin693]

1:24

[@SAGAWISIW30]

Its true its money pit so expensive try to get yiur mrecs repaired... 😢😢

[@aduckquackquack5783]

Arrogance much? That’s how this happened.

[@d.wagnerRE]

The German auto industry is in the dumper because of poor quality! Maintenance is a costly nightmare. It’s like American cars from the early 1980s

[@antti8299]

Suicide by climate politics.

[@thejuni1988]

More like corporate greed. Nobody is buying those expensive unreliable cars that cost a fortune to repair. They're only focusing on increasing profits per unit sold, instead of increasing the quality of the car. If you sell reliable cars that can last. The customers will keep coming back. If you sell them junk at a high price they won't be back and they'll tell everybody around them to keep away from your brand. That is what is happening now

[@JanNowak-q7m]

VW would run into trouble even with no single word about climat.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

You have 10 year To adapt to ev.But you wasted it.

[@GlobexCorporationHank]

My car is overly engineered. It's old and paid off. Have to replace three or four parts, where a Japanese cars need one or two parts to replace for that component. The parts need to be original and are expensive. When you want to sell it, it's worth very little, because buyers don't want to pay the higher service costs.

[@Hope4peace1804]

No more Russian cheap energy is killing German car industry. 😢

[@KP-xi4bj]

German auto industry is done, due to complacency. They were banking on ICE cars and not EV innovations and it did not panned out for them.

[@thomasl6912]

EV technology is not ready yet. They messed it up by increasing prices and reducing quality at the same time.

[@KP-xi4bj]

@@thomasl6912 EV technology not ready yet? Tesla: hold my beer.

[@thomasl6912]

@@KP-xi4bj batteries are very heavy, expensive and bad for the environment.

[@KP-xi4bj]

@@thomasl6912 Teslas weigh about the same or less than their comparable ICE cars. For example, Model 3 Long Range weighs about the same as M340i xDrive. An EV battery will last the life of the car. The average life of any car is twelve years. The cost of a BEV battery goes down with each generation. Ninety-five percent of batteries from BEVs are recyclable. Do some research next time instead of trolling.

[@thomasl6912]

@@KP-xi4bj I don't need to do research because I develop these... Just because you read 2 articles, you will not be qualified.

[@tonigrofu2728]

Comparing the electric cars to the Iphone is completely wrong, governments did not have to incentivize people to buy Iphones instead of Nokia phones, the change was pushed by the market demand. Secondly, in the periods of economic downturn when the cost of living is increasing and people have less money to spend they are looking for cheap, reliable cars(that's why the Dacia Sandero is the top selling car in Europe)

[@stefanhaeussler821]

Dacia is doing great, their cars look good and seem they are somewhat reliable too. In regard to the iphone topic, also you cannot really compare the pricing of both, yes iphones are expensive but most people do not take out a loan to get an iphone.

[@waynerussell6401]

Except the Model Y outsold the Sandero in Europe by ~14000 units in 2023, despite costing three times as much! And was the highest selling vehicle in the World... The real cost is how much it is to own over it's lifetime. The average life of an ICE is 130k miles. The Tesla is good for over 300k miles with minimal to no maintenance. Listed as the cheapest brand to own by Consumer Reports in US.

[@tonigrofu2728]

@@waynerussell6401 I was talking about 2024 numbers, if you look at them you see that it has fallen out of the top 8, and that correlates with the retraction of governmental incentives

[@waynerussell6401]

@@tonigrofu2728 Still on track to be the best welling vehicle Worldwide in 2024! The German market collapse is being addressed by a proposed incentive of a €6,000 bonus for scrapping a combustion engine vehicle and purchasing a new electric vehicle. Also the increase in Sandero sales recently is influenced by large fleet sales. The point unaddressed is that consumers will buy compelling vehicles with superior cost in use criteria, rather than the cheapest ticket. And OEMs can't make them. The immediate promise of autonomous taxi services at very cheap fares takes care of mass urban transit. Watch out for October 10!

[@bangmo7]

Too big dependence on Chinese market. Too big confidence in the tech gab over Chinese producers.

[@kaiserleo1383]

yes if not CHINA, THEY WOUDNT HAVE EXPANDED SO FAST SO THEY DONT HAVE TO LAY OFF 12000 WORKES!

[@winsonip4447]

There is a significant gap in the interview. The Chinese competitor included German companies that operate in China. After the pandemic, the trend of diversifying to shorten supply chains is occurring not only in the West but also in China. The increasing presence of German companies in China could explain this issue. They need a market to generate revenue, which supports their R&D efforts, and China has the customers and engineers in this vast macroeconomic engine that Germany currently lacks.

[@dannyboy8850]

Excellent situational analysis !! 👍👍👍

[@novainvicta]

German cars have become very expensive particularly since the pandemic. We recently bought a Mini Countryman built at BMW Leipzig factory it’s over £ 40K yet has everything working from a touch screen that’s way more dangerous for the driver to use whilst driving. I’m not a fan of Chinese cars I don’t like the styling and in the UK they are just as expensive as German cars so price will hold them back. However they learn faster and within a decade German cars will have lost significant market share with price being the single biggest factor.

[@evoniics9572]

Don’t forget the influence of the German green/leftwing parties. Spending since 2015 over 600 billion for a not working energy transition and since than every year 50 billion+ for immigrants. That’s the money who is missed in r&d and generell Infrastruktur.

[@randomdodads]

Easy, lower the price of your cars or we go elsewhere. The price of raw materials for batteries has dropped by 80% in the last two years, this was the excuse for the high EV prices.

[@NA13571]

VW manufacturers cars like it wants, not like the people want. Here in Brazil VW is very strong brand but, in the last years, VW is losing the competitively in terms of prices and innovations. We have here many similar cars: Taos, T-cross, Tiguan, etc, are ll the same car with a limited modification in some items. In fact, it is being a long time that VW did not launch an innovative vehicle.

[@rkan2]

The last innovative vehicle VW sold was the XL1. It was a joke VW couldn't follow through with creating a carbon fiber bodied car. That would've been actual innovation for a vehicle. Instead BMW managed to do it with the i3, though it's success was limited. Now you have Tesla buying all the huge casting machines they can, bringing actual innovation outside the powertrains.

[@the_genre]

build quality has gotten worse, but the prices have gone up ? how is one to buy something which has so many cheap plastic parts, not even a good quality plastic is being used. I say this, because I used 2020 VW Tiguan AllSpace TDI. My previous Golf 5 2004 had plastic parts, but the quality of that plastic was very robust, even after 20 years of abuse.

[@imadkhaliq2941]

What everyone here is either forgetting or dont want to mention is the price hike in energy thanks to the Master of Europe the USA. For any industrial economy low energy prices are fundamental.

[@Lucas-wn5wm]

They had cheap oil for too long and funded russia. Trump wasny that happy with germany...now gona pay more

[@stocktalk8798]

03:00 Not only that, but you can also add the services industry (consultancy, IT- Software Development and Software Testing etc.). It makes the Auto Inudstry probably contributing well above 10% of the whole GDP. We should immediately get a hold on our Auto-Industry, or Germany will fall behind many other countries if the growth does not accelerate immediately!

[@konmoe121]

German car industry is a bit the equivalent of Swiss big banks regarding not be interested in the small middle class customer.

[@kaiserleo1383]

middle class? i thought the meaning of volkswagen means cars for middle class, ridiculous

[@peterwilliams942]

VW started by building affordable, simple and reliable cars for the masses, like the Beatle and like Henry Ford and the Model T. But today most manufacturers produce cars that are so expensive and complex!

[@b.dragos87]

And do not forget that China is using cheap gas from Russia.

[@harleydavidson4254]

@b.dragos87 Because China understands economics and stays out of other countries affairs.

[@pipiqiqi4010]

the current 95# petrol price is 7.8 rmb/L (1.1 US dollars per liter)

[@niteshsingh-iv4yf]

when cheap gas is gone, industries are expected to go down

[@guilhermeferrerdesouza6618]

For Brazil, VW and Toyota are selling the exact same cars of 6 years ago just rising the prices (since pandemic crisis, but never lowering it back, and blaming taxes that never increased).

[@craig5820]

It’s the same in uk 🇬🇧 brother

[@emikomina]

the most popular brand in brazil is fiat.... That alone is enough for me to know that most brazilians dont have enough money to buy quality cars

[@legendaryzfps]

​@@emikominafiats are good cars. A friends ducato is about to reach the 1 million km mark soon. It just boils down to what you buy from them...

[@emikomina]

@@legendaryzfps good for that guy, but 1 guy is not the indicator for all. The reality is that it is well documented that fiats are generally unreliable and have poor build quality

[@legendaryzfps]

@@emikomina its his 3rd ducato on 500k+

[@alexandrudicu5212]

Make full hybrids like Toyota, Honda and Renault, you fools!

[@Jimmy4video]

The real question is why DW allows its comment section to be swamped by Russian and Chinese bots?

[@gfys756]

This is why the west is crumbling. You think any form of criticism is a "bot". What a sheltered existence. 🤦🏿‍♂️

[@Npc-AA]

happy that you still regard them as bot

[@baron_mijail7752]

VW should increase the price of their cars even more, that will surely solve the issue.

[@jgroszer]

For decades German subsidies to its car industry have shielded the sector from pressure to innovate by providing incentives to buy and produce e combustion engined cars, at a time when China was securing supplies, building supply chains and developing EV technology and battery technology. Germany has slept through the digital revolution, not providing fast (glass fibre) broadband or creating digital technology leaders and services. Because of ist dogmatic fiscal policies, Germany has also neglected its infrastructure for decades, selling its policy of limited public spending as „prudent“. Bridges are collapsing, trains are failing, and the German administration is hampered by inefficiency and slow take up of digital technology. The pandemic and the German response to Russia‘s attack on Ukraine have mercilessly revealed the multiple failings and misguided policies of the last two decades. Yet, the current German government and the main opposition party cling on to tight public spending limits condemning education, infrastructure and R&D to further deterioration. Putting the picture of Germany today up against the arrogance and condescension of its government during the financial crisis towards its Southern European partners, is quite a lesson in karma.

[@IanMacias]

An S-class in 2015 was ~$95-100k. Now they’re $130k and up.

[@SportNut1]

Because you guys got greedy and stop building quality cars in reasonable price and type of cars that made you great. I was willing to pay the premium until the quality went down so much and they all become heavy, bulky and 4 cylinder!! You killed your brand with M3 that you can't look at and Cayman that you can't listen to

[@BenLane-hi3cf]

Cars are so expensive now, they are pricing themselves out of the market! People increasingly cant afford them

[@comendrun9074]

Have they been asleep the whole time? Just a few months ago they gave away more than billions in dividends, just like every other year. And now they figured, oh we are going down? It's not only the companies themselves, as the guest said, there are entire cities and villages that are prospering just because of their car manufacturing facilities. Without them they would be no better than Detroit

[@Jonas-Seiler]

Net profits are still very high though, no idea what they're complaining about

[@legendaryzfps]

The entirety of Germany is asleep since 30 years (when Kohl was elected)

[@vzntoup]

The main problem is that Germany is trying to milk customers abroad through high margins because of -Crazy state taxes and Insanely high wages. This does not work anymore. The grass is greener on the other side.

[@huawei755]

Germany started importing expensive energy from the United States = Prices of products goes up..

[@speculawyer]

They should never have become so completely dependent on dictator Putin and they should NOT have closed all their nuke plants.

[@AWriterWandering]

They should never have decommissioned those nuclear reactors.

[@huawei755]

@@AWriterWandering True!! If they didn't they could be more self sufficient and more environmentally friendly.

[@SAGAWISIW30]

And make cheap people's car ... small profit sell millions... cut ceo pay.. import workers from bangladesh

[@huawei755]

@@SAGAWISIW30 I don't think we need more cars in Europe though. Maybe the people in Bangladesh could build Volkswagen for themselves instead of for the Europeans?

[@Tpry]

Expensive cars and spare parts, expensive car maintenance labor - German cars.

[@nickfzar]

VW needs to reduce the cost of their vehicles, Chinese manufacturers are offering cheaper vehicles with more features and about the same quality. The age old crash test argument is also becoming less and less relevant. In crash tests the Chinese vehicles perform more or less the same as the German vehicles. I love German cars so I hope they can regroup and come back strong!!!

[@MrLeovdmeer]

The problem is the EV market and the lack of people buying them.

[@maestrovso]

Workers in China work up to 80 hours a week, while German averages 34 with 20 days of paid vacation, and we haven't begin to scratch the surface of the pay/compensation differences.

[@AbuSayyaf963]

You are kidding. Only people in the semiconductor and software industries in China can work such long hours. The average automotive industry only works 40-50 hours.

[@rkan2]

The working hours have nothing to do with it. It has all to do with relying on your whole economy to be reliant on exploiting fossil fuels from Siberia. It is as if they always thought that they would never run out. 😂 That is also kind of true, since now it looks like that all of the gas and oil will not even all be extracted.

[@rayl2505]

You should have said 160hrs to make it a more solid case. Why not?

[@pietroantonioni3207]

Thanks for a perfect analisys, Mr. Brzeski !