Even the President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, does not rule out that Germany could fall by the wayside as a location for the industry. Although the German manufacturers would not lose the race for the future, “the German location without massive reforms would,” said Müller. Before the start of the IAA auto show, she complained about over-regulation, political decisions that were too slow and the lack of a legal framework for future topics such as artificial intelligence.
One example is the use of data: “If we restrict this here in Europe, in Germany, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen somewhere in the world.” And it also doesn’t mean that German manufacturers aren’t active elsewhere in the field. “The question is, do we create a political, a regulatory framework here so that we can be competitive and advance internationally.”
The main point, however, is “that the location in Germany is dramatically losing its international competitiveness due to the cost structure,” warned Müller. So you have the highest energy costs here. The automotive industry believes that a temporary industrial electricity price is necessary. This should prevent important industries such as battery or semiconductor technology from migrating or not settling in the first place. Medium-sized suppliers say: “The topic of energy prices is becoming toxic for us.” Investments would no longer be increased in this country, “but they go to other European countries or to the USA”.
The auto industry is also experiencing time losses and complexities, since administration in Germany is not digitized, criticized Müller. “Of course there are no easy solutions with AI, with ChatGPT – but they are on the rise, we have to design them now. We can’t say we’ll wait years,” she warned. “In the meantime, other regions of the world, which in many respects have better location conditions than we do, will pass us by.”
The industry must invest now and wants to invest 250 billion euros in digitization, among other things, over the next five years. “We cannot and will not wait as an industry, because otherwise we will not achieve the climate targets,” emphasized Müller. “We are now deciding where we will invest in future technologies – and that is why the state must also increase its speed on these issues.”