The German company could not withstand the competition from Tesla and the Chinese automakers.
Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen may soon lose the competition with the manufacturers from USA and China, which have relied on electric cars and completely abandon the internal combustion engine.
In 2016, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen raised $552 billion and earned $30 billion due to the sale of petrol and diesel engines. The engine is still in Vogue, and German automakers don’t want to have a crisis ahead of time. How, in fact, the German government, which wants to reduce emissions, but cannot ignore the harsh fact — 14% of GDP comes from the automotive industry.
“The German automotive industry needs a breather, says the former head of Opel, Karl-Thomas Neumann. — It must recognize that fossil fuel is dying out. Although the internal combustion engine will still be used in the coming years, everything will change. The German car industry need to focus on a much smaller number of models and use the savings to develop money for investment in electric vehicles.”
Neumann believes Tesla main cause of the coming crisis in the German automotive industry. “Before Tesla thought of electric cars as something that could be found only in the irrational requirements of the California Council for the environment, he says. But now more and more countries are to prohibit vehicles on fossil fuels. Even China, where environmental culture is not at the highest level, tightens the requirements for manufacturers of conventional vehicles”.
The BMW was made a separate division dedicated exclusively to electric vehicles, but sales of new models i3 and i8 disappointed investors. In response, the company has eliminated it and focused on hybrids.
The Volkswagen promise that by the year 2025 under various group brands will produce 50 models of electric vehicles. One of them, I. D. Buzz should be a new interpretation of the famous van VW. However, this model is under development for 5 years, and still the same need to start production. “The postponement, and half-hearted implementation of new technologies became a symbol of the decade for the German automotive industry,” says Neumann.
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