The German car industry is about to repeat the fate of the Titanic
- December 4, 2023
- 0
After the sad news from the tire industry, the German car industry is shocked. It seemed that it was impossible to sink such a mass, but any, even
After the sad news from the tire industry, the German car industry is shocked. It seemed that it was impossible to sink such a mass, but any, even the most powerful structure, will have weaknesses. And where it is thin, it breaks. Details are on the AvtoVzglyad portal.
Mercedes-Benz put a piece of coal under the Christmas tree for its shareholders on New Year’s Eve: a quarterly report about a decline in profit by 7% and turnover by 1.4% immediately led to a decline in the group’s shares. Not so critical, you say, but here is some information against which you can compare the consequences.
For example, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers caused the American indices to plummet by 11%, and Brexit caused the exchange rate of the pound against the dollar to fall by 10% and against the euro by 7%. In other words, this is not yet a ‘black swan’, but it is close. These are tens of millions of dollars in losses that still need to be compensated after the shareholders are exonerated. We all know the reasons, but who will say them out loud.
Just last week, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schafer called the company uncompetitive. The local personnel officer immediately suggested firing the people. No, this is not a joke: Gunnar Killian, responsible for the brand’s human resources policy, recommended reducing the workforce by retiring some of the employees. Literally: ‘away with ballast’.
An effective manager with an MBA degree is visible from afar, so the respected gentlemen did not agree on the decision to take action before the end of the year and develop a plan that will dig themselves out of the hole. What is currently happening in the German economy is a storm, the consequences of which are detailed in one classic novel. German. It’s called “Three Comrades”.
The tire and car companies were very dependent on cheap energy sources that flowed uninterruptedly through pipes from a vast area between Estonia and Mongolia. The astonishing growth of the German economy began in the 1970s, right from the launch of the famous ‘Gas for Pipe’ project. Amazing, isn’t it?
The decision to terminate, tie up and force long-standing contracts, to introduce 12 packages of 17,000 sanctions, is already turning backward towards the forest and forward towards the ‘flowering garden’. Coal is of course great, but you also have to be careful with it. Especially if your own deposits are highly developed and the rivers are so dried out that barges run aground. And the wind is so “breezy”. Today yes, but not tomorrow.
Entrepreneurship is always a long game. Everyone laughed at the plans for the ‘five-year plan’, which were regularly put forward and then stoically maintained by car companies, but there is simply no other way. Will not work. How long can we plan in today’s world? At best – until the evening. And even then, there’s no point in promising it. And the Germans, careful and punctual, who know the value of every euro cent, seem to have forgotten this. But recently, on a global scale, it was a moment.
Photo globallookpress.com
Mercedes-Benz put a piece of coal under the Christmas tree for its shareholders on New Year’s Eve: a quarterly report about a decline in profit by 7% and turnover by 1.4% immediately led to a decline in the group’s shares. Not so critical, you say, but here is some information against which you can compare the consequences.
For example, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers caused the American indices to plummet by 11%, and Brexit caused the exchange rate of the pound against the dollar to fall by 10% and against the euro by 7%. In other words, this is not yet a ‘black swan’, but it is close. These are tens of millions of dollars in losses that still need to be compensated after the shareholders are exonerated. We all know the reasons, but who will say them out loud.
Just last week, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schafer called the company uncompetitive. The local personnel officer immediately suggested firing the people. No, this is not a joke: Gunnar Killian, responsible for the brand’s human resources policy, recommended reducing the workforce by retiring some of the employees. Literally: ‘away with ballast’.
An effective manager with an MBA degree is visible from afar, so the respected gentlemen did not agree on the decision to take action before the end of the year and develop a plan that will dig themselves out of the hole. What is currently happening in the German economy is a storm, the consequences of which are detailed in one classic novel. German. It’s called “Three Comrades.”
The tire and car companies were very dependent on cheap energy sources that flowed uninterruptedly through pipes from a vast area between Estonia and Mongolia. The astonishing growth of the German economy began in the 1970s, right from the launch of the famous ‘Gas for Pipe’ project. Amazing, isn’t it?
The decision to terminate, tie up and force long-standing contracts, to introduce 12 packages of 17,000 sanctions, is already turning backward towards the forest and forward towards the ‘flowering garden’. Coal is of course great, but you also have to be careful with it. Especially if your own deposits are highly developed and the rivers are so dried out that barges run aground. And the wind is so “breezy”. Today yes, but not tomorrow.
Entrepreneurship is always a long game. Everyone laughed at the plans for the ‘five-year plan’, which were regularly put forward and then stoically maintained by car companies, but there is simply no other way. Will not work. How long can we plan in today’s world? At best – until the evening. And even then, there’s no point in promising it. And the Germans, careful and punctual, who know the value of every euro cent, seem to have forgotten this. But recently, on a global scale, it was a moment.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
