VDA chief sees'serious location problem'
The domestic automotive industry is fighting against the relocation of production abroad. Only under certain conditions can production still be maintained in Germany, warns VDA chief Müller. Tariffs against China are not a suitable means for protecting the industry.
The automotive industry sees the production in Germany at risk due to high energy prices and excessive bureaucracy. "Some plants can only be kept here because money is earned at locations abroad. We have a serious location problem," said the president of the Association of the German Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, to the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung".
The jobs in Germany can only be maintained if energy becomes cheaper, raw materials are secured, and bureaucracy is reduced. Instead, the EU, for example, is going down special paths with the Supply Chain Act and building new bureaucratic hurdles.
"Also, the federal government must move from talking to acting, otherwise the creeping deindustrialization cannot be stopped because Germany cannot keep up with production costs," Müller warned. Berlin must put much more pressure on Brussels to conclude energy partnerships with Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as trade agreements. "We will not fail because we can no longer build good cars. It's all about the framework conditions," said Müller.
The VDA president also called for the withdrawal of the EU tariffs on Chinese electric cars. While subsidies in China are indeed a challenge, tariffs are not a suitable means for protecting the industry. "There is a risk of countermeasures by China, and a protectionist spiral would hit Germany as an export nation the hardest."
Concerns about an electric car flood from the East are exaggerated
German manufacturers sold around 100 times more passenger cars in China than Chinese brands in Germany, Müller emphasized in the newspaper interview. The current concern about an electric car flood from the East is exaggerated. The talks that the EU Commission is conducting with Peking must be intensified, as there are solutions.
Looking at the weakening market for electric cars, Müller once again called for a faster expansion of charging infrastructure. "The most important thing to get electric mobility back on track here is charging stations, charging stations, charging stations, and networks, networks, networks!" In more than a third of all communities, there is still no public charging point, and almost three-quarters of all communities have not yet installed a fast-charging point. Truck drivers who want to have fast-charging stations for their electric trucks are told by their network operators: "We can do that in six or eight years." The payment system must also be standardized and simplified so that users can charge at any charging point.
The economy, specifically the domestic automotive industry, is facing challenges due to high energy prices and excessive bureaucracy in Germany, threatening production and jobs. The VDA president, Hildegard Müller, emphasized that tariffs against China are not a viable solution for protecting the industry.
