Before the start of the IAA motor show, VDA President Hildegard Müller warns that Germany is losing competitiveness as a location for industry. “Massive reforms” are needed.
The President of the Association of the Automotive Industry, Hildegard Müller, warns that Germany could become less important as a location for cars. The German manufacturers would not lose the race for the future, “the German location would without massive reforms,” said Müller of the dpa news agency in a joint interview with Microsoft’s Germany boss Marianne Janik.
Before the start of the IAA auto show, Müller complained, among other things, about overregulation, too slow political decisions and the lack of a legal framework for future topics such as artificial intelligence.
High energy costs
The main point is “that the location in Germany loses its international competitiveness dramatically due to the cost structure,” says the VDA boss. This is how you have the highest energy costs – and the car industry thinks 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 industry has to invest many billions
According to Müller, the auto industry is experiencing loss of time and difficulties because administration in Germany is not digitized. “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,” criticized the VDA boss. “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,” says 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.”
The IAA begins
The gates of the international car show IAA Mobility do not open to the general public until Tuesday. On today’s press day, car manufacturers and suppliers will present their innovations at dozens of premiere shows and press conferences.
The Chinese car manufacturers could move into the limelight in particular. For the first time, they are present in large numbers at the trade fair and are also showing many higher-priced models with which they want to lure buyers away from German premium manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes and Tesla.
In addition, many protest actions by climate activists are to be expected. Under the motto BlockIAA, you have called for a large rally next weekend.