Structures in the automotive industry.

Electric mobility has been considered the big trend in automotive production since 2020, if not before. The pandemic may have caused a dip in sales, but the subsidies provided by European governments have ensured that the number of approved electric vehicles has grown significantly. This growth has exceeded the figures in China and the US. In the EU, the proportion of newly approved electric vehicles has surpassed the 10% mark whereas China, at just over 6%, and the US, at around 2%, lag far behind.

Nonetheless, the absolute figures show how deeply the pandemic dampened the appetite for new vehicle purchases. In 2021, sales figures in Europe dropped by around a quarter while China and the US experienced hardly any losses. German automakers now need to invest increasingly more often in production relocations. The huge growth in the car market of around 40% since 2005 is largely attributable to China whereas the largely saturated markets in Europe and the US accounted for less than 5% of the growth. The rapidly increasing sales in Asia, especially in China, have also led to a significant advancement in technological expertise. Certain analysts already fear that VW, for example, may lag behind in some areas of electric mobility.

This is not changed by the fact that more German cars have been built in China than in Germany itself for several years now. However, the profit margins achieved by German automakers are mostly limited to luxury vehicles, where Germany remains the undisputed global market leader. These premium models are primarily produced in Germany. We can expect to see more changes in 2022 – many of which are already being discussed or planned in detail.