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Written by Patrick Poppel, expert at the Center for Geostrategic Studies (Belgrade)
The German auto industry was considered solid for over half a century. To this day, German cars have a very good reputation in all parts of the world. But the German auto industry is currently in a major crisis.
The media reports on company meetings, accompanied by the anger and protests of employees at the German company VW. The works council leader wants to prevent factories from closing. VW produced about nine million vehicles last year, compared to a total capacity of 14 million.
Increasing returns at the main VW brand has become more difficult given higher logistics, energy and labor costs. According to union representatives, more than 500,000 employees could take part in strikes at the end of next month if VW does not engage in constructive talks. Volkswagen AG could face strikes as early as October as the automaker considers scrapping decades-old job security agreements and closing two German plants, the country’s largest union said.
While the union is sticking to the industry-wide demand for seven percent more wages, IG Metall boss Christiane Benner said the switch to a four-day week would be a possible concession that workers would consider. “We still have a year, maybe two years to turn things around. But we have to use this time,” said Group CFO Arno Antlitz in clear words in front of more than 10,000 employees at the VW plant. “We have been spending more money in the brand than we are earning for some time. That’s not going to work well in the long run!”
VW wants to use the savings to free up the funds it needs for new products. “We now need money to invest heavily,” said brand boss Thomas Schäfer. In Europe, two million fewer cars are currently being sold per year than before the corona pandemic. And that is unlikely to change.
For VW, with a market share of around a quarter in Europe, this means: “We are missing sales of around 500,000 cars and sales for around two plants. And that has nothing to do with our products or poor sales performance. The market is simply no longer there.”
This development is not only a catastrophe for the many employees, who are very likely to lose their jobs. It will affect entire settlements in Germany, where a large proportion of the residents are employed at the concern. In these areas, the entire infrastructure is geared towards the factories. But this is the current fate of Germany.
What impact does this have on the economies of the remaining European countries? Many parts needed for the German one are not produced in Germany, but in other EU countries. This is also the case with other sectors of German industry. If the German economy declines, there is an immediate effect that also affects companies in other countries.
Since the cooperation and delivery has worked well over years and decades, these companies in other countries have strategically oriented themselves very strongly towards the German economy. If there is a reduction in orders or even a loss of customers, it will be very difficult for these companies to find new customers internationally.
But now we are also looking for the culprit of this crisis. But from the discussion in the German media it is clear that it is not the fault of the company’s management. The topic of energy costs is mentioned again and again.
Two factors have always been the basis for Germany as an industrial location; the seriousness and precision of the German worker and the cheap energy. So the culprit is to be found in politics.
The debates in German energy policy are all known to be absurd. First you close nuclear power plants, but then you have to buy electricity from nuclear power plants abroad. Then wind turbines are set up everywhere, even though this technology cannot meet the needs of the Germans.
And now people are buying the expensive liquid gas from America because they want to forego the cheaper Russian gas for political reasons. The crisis in the German auto industry is the crisis in German energy policy. Of course, with the rise of the Chinese auto industry, the situation on the world market has changed and there is more competition.
But the foundation is important for every production. With expensive energy, an industry can no longer remain competitive. Wrong political decisions are currently destroying the German industry and thus have an impact on Europe’s entire prosperity.
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the automotive industry, my favorite topic. a long time ago, the nobility in brussels decided to come up with a strategy for electric cars and subsidies for them. for the bottom 99 percent of the population, an electric car is the ultimate tool to eliminate any individual transport. it is expensive, it is limited by battery life, it is impractical and when it catches fire, well, it burns down the whole family house and everything inside.
without subsidies, no one would voluntarily buy such shit, so they came up with emission limits against internal combustion engines. this is communism in its purest form. yet brussels communism got out of hand when communist china started making them at dumped prices and it turned against western car makers
and so it is with all the regulations that come from brussels. electricity is already so absurdly expensive in eu, due to all the subsidies and regulations and green nonsense, that it ruins the bottom 99 percent of the population. of course, the top one percent doesn’t care at all, they will drive their asses in five-liter limousines to the airport, where a private jet will be waiting for them.
then there is the unfortunate problem with the embargo on russian raw materials, due to which european industry is uncompetitive against china.brussels believed that the china will never be able to produce electric motors, regulators, control electronics, or software for the various assistants that these cars are equipped with but this is not the case. it is quite opposite. they are leading in these areas as they produce that in huge numbers
so it will lead to large unemployment in europe and that will of course lead to a problem with social benefits as this system is already heavily abused by illegals . in the end it will probably bring down already unpopular left-wing governments, but that doesn’t matter because the damage was already done. the relations with russia are damaged beyond repair, the illegals will not be deported and the jobs will stay in china
make life with schitzophrenia really fun, every morning while looking in the mirror you get to know a new friend!
you are never alone
europe will get the orwellian dystopia that the elite dream about running. but worse for the regular proletariat shlub, it won’t be run by the irish o’brien.
it’s going to be brown, black and trannies working you over in room 101, taking orders from jews.
no electric cars are to serve two purposes one to require global nuclear power plants
and two, to free up diesel for the billionaire yacht and private jet owning oligarchs who will make trillions from uranium mines and nuclear power becayse it’s the most expensive energy supply methodology of all.
purpose 3. auto drive a lithium incendiary device to multiple steel bridges and burn them down in the cyberpolygon hack to cause maximum chaos under the cover of the illusion of a hack. we all know these things are remote control spy box, kill box, fire started device, and the owner is ‘allowed’ to use it as a car… for now.
you dared say something intelligent??? what happened? therapy? a revelation? shocking…
left out the revolving door and dual citizens going in and out of the eu, u.k. and north america that made it all possible, and the middle easterners who’s homes were decimated after 9/11/2001 “excuse” that got this party started… and oh… by the way… when do russians leave those “second home(s)” for good to show their unwavering support for god country and family back home.
don’t understand how professional hockey players like ovechkin in north america can betray their families back home by remaining?… especially since 2014!…
the french revolution got it started. the whole “democratic era” the considation of power of kings to a centralised source in truth.
the result of the majority of the normal people beeing persuaded that the only way going forward is green. they are not building the capacity for all the gas powered cars to be replaced by electric ones.
they never planned to do so. this is a way to reduce the number of cars by taking them away from the workers class.
to your cogent point(s). you will also never hear a western leader in a debate speak of the problem in reducing a deficit,… speaking of how they will create new jobs to rebuild an economy… or promoting detente in order to mitigate the worst outcome(s) in looting operation(s) increasingly around the globe before it’s too late for their economies. those past memories and ship(s) of critical thinking have all sailed never to return again!…
no it’s a transituon to nuclear power.
what does it matter if vw collapses and the german goys can’t have any cars? just so long as they keep sending us dolphin submarines at a billion euros a pop completely gratis and sending us billions of euros for turning us all into lamp shades. that’s what the goy donkeys are for, to serve the chosen people. apart from that they have no purpose in life.
the nazis were a party of catholics. like the anerican democrats . the aussie labor party or boris johnson conservative party or in reality the house of lords from the catholic plantagenet dynasty.
oh no! look at the pope! it’s all his fault! look over there at that flying pig! it’s all his fault! just don’t mention the jews!
a you imagine that..!!! government destroying their own country and people.. must be the new world order utopia ..!!!
coincides with the plan to de-industrialize the german economy by 2035 and forcefully resettle hundreds of millions of african and middle eastern migrants.
same thing with mercedes. i’ve been saying exactly this for at least 4 years. nothing to do with corona bs, everything to do with nordstream. period.
mercedes ars private tax collectors in fact they’re cars are designed to be a way to require expensive servicing. it’s tax collection its a wealth tax in disguise like rolls royce is. nothing is what it seems.
by the time the tribulation and ww3 are over, i don’t think there will be many industries left but bombed out and defunct buildings.
if you read the revelation of john you’ll see that after the city that’s us divided into three, is utterly destroyed its wealth gone its power rubble then comes shortly after a thousand years of peace. well history proves beyond any reasonable doubt, thaf humans have never lived in peace
there won’t be many humans left. hence the peace. lol
exactly. and than after a thousand years of half life radiation cleansing we get raised up into our new” shiny bodies “, of light i believe, and ascend into a realm where there is no day and night, just eternal light so we aren’t going to be in these biological bodies anymore.
exactly. none actually most likely. those who vibrate at a slow harmonic rate, the heavies et al, filled with their own self importance will descend into bottomless pit.
good point jimmy, the unclean masses of the unjabbed will be the remnants…
it’s all the fault of the war criminal floosie, von der lugen. get her on the end of a rope and allow the old nazi to swing in the wind for a couple of weeks. make peace with moscow and get the imports of russian democracy molecules flowing and get the house in order. all’s
well that ends well. but if you allow the bottomless greed of the
disunited states of a to dictate the future, misery will be the result.
energy is an issue. but the green fachism imposed by eu could be the biggest factor. the eu is a economic war tool used to destroy eu countries, thats just a fact
said by the russians and their bs economy and salarys , what a comedy this guys
all these white (soon to be formerly white from the looks of it) nations fighting amongst themselves and getting caught up in the jewish sponsored ukrainian war, and all the while chinas economy grows and thrives, and the chinese know they will be the worlds boss soon.
i often think that blacks are the most stupid people on earth, but despite all the glories of europe, modern whites take the prize.
at one point, germany sort of became a car’s way of making another car. vw also did it to themselves by abandoning the original beetle. if well-kept it could be a million-mile car. people love their bugs. maybe vw can re-win some market share by going old school. bring back the bug and the vanagon and the old vw bus