The heating manufacturer Viessmann is selling its promising heat pump division to the US group Carrier Global. Who is the buyer and what should German customers expect?
It was in 1902 that American engineer Willis Carrier patented an electrical device that would become a big seller in the warmer climes of the planet: the air conditioner. 13 years later, the inventor founded his own company.
Today, Carrier Global Corporation is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of heating and ventilation systems – and of course air conditioning. Based in Florida, USA, the company employs more than 52,000 people and sells its products in 160 countries on six continents.
The name is program
It is an industry giant and global player, says Alexander Gard Murray, climate change researcher at Brown University, im ARD-Interview: Carrier Global is incomparably larger than the German medium-sized company Viessmann – and the group is on an expansion course. “Today the company calls itself Carrier Global,” emphasizes the economist, “with the takeover of companies in Asia and Europe, it is making the name part of the program.”
Murray is also convinced that heat pumps are the future – for heating in winter, but also for cooling in summer, in other words with a dual function. “Efficient heat pumps will be crucial when it comes to saying goodbye to coal and fossil fuel heating,” he says, “regardless of where the electricity comes from.” The trend has long since arrived on the US market.
Growth market of heat pumps
In the USA, the proportion of new buildings that are heated and cooled with heat pumps has risen from less than a quarter in 2000 to 40 percent now, reports the expert. The trend is still increasing. Joe Biden’s costly climate protection and welfare package, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, is also a huge subsidy program for heat pumps.
This is exactly what the head of the North Hessian heating engineer Viessmann, Max Viessmann, was referring to when he announced the sale of his air conditioning division on US television. “If you look at the Inflation Reduction Act,” Viessmann said in an interview with CNBC, “then you can see a huge opportunity for both companies to combine their strengths.” Carrier’s huge production capacities and worldwide sales combined with German technology: This is how a leading industry giant is created.
For the German customer this could mean: The heat pumps – engineered in Germany – go into mass production for a global market and become correspondingly cheaper. And there can be no question of the formation of a monopoly, says climate researcher Murray. There is still healthy competition on the global heat pump market.