The German automotive industry warns of a loss of importance in global location competition and calls for targeted measures to counteract this. “Without an ambitious program for competitiveness and location, we risk losing the connection globally,” said the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) on Wednesday. The industry fears that Europe could lose touch with funding programs worth billions in the USA and the confrontation with China and that companies could increasingly relocate locations.
After a mixed year, the industry is looking to 2023 with cautious optimism. Car manufacturers and suppliers are counting on the supply bottlenecks continuing to decrease and production running smoothly again. At the same time, the special boom, in which the manufacturers were able to push through high prices and bring in substantial profits due to strong demand, is coming to an end. In Germany, the Association of the Automotive Industry expects the car market to grow slightly this year by two percent to a good 2.7 million units. That would still be a quarter less than in the pre-crisis year of 2019. For Europe, the association expects sales to increase by five percent to 11.8 million vehicles. In the USA, the market for so-called light vehicles is likely to increase by four percent to 14.2 million units. The VDA is forecasting growth of three percent to 23.7 million units for China, the world’s largest passenger car market. This results in moderate growth of four percent for the world market to 74 million vehicles – that would be 6.5 million fewer than in 2019.