Germany’s auto industry prepares for job losses in electric transition

euronews (in English)

Volkswagen is closing three plants in Germany, and Audi is halting production in Belgium, sparking fears of a crisis in Europe’s car industry. However, some see it as part of a necessary transition.

Transcript

00:00Volkswagen has just announced the closure of three plants in Germany,

00:06while Audi will stop production at a factory in Belgium.

00:11The European automotive sector seems to be in crisis.

00:15But the German industry sees itself in a transition period with the switch to electric cars.

00:21This comes, however, at a high cost, as EV car production requires fewer employees overall than in the past.

00:29According to a new study, the transformation of the German automotive industry could lead to 186,000 job losses over the next 10 years,

00:39and a quarter of those have already been lost.

00:42The German Association of the Automotive Industry thinks that other jobs will be created,

00:47but this requires to work on competitiveness.

00:51In the future, the attractiveness of the location site decides where investments are made and where future jobs will be established.

01:02Yes, there will be jobs that won't be needed that much anymore,

01:05but with the digital era and everything concerning software, but also the electric mobility itself,

01:12of course, there will be a lot of new jobs created.

01:15So we need to make sure that Europe, that Germany, has the attractiveness, the competitiveness that the investments are made here.

01:24According to German car makers, the key to this is cheaper energy,

01:29which is four times more expensive in Europe than in China and the United States.

01:34On the other hand, they disagree with the European tariffs on electric cars made in China that have just entered into force.

01:41But according to the NGO Clean Transport, the new tariffs will give the sector breathing space during the switch.

01:49The tariffs will not change the entire dynamics completely.

01:53Maybe instead of importing those electric vehicles from China,

01:57we will see a lot more factories here in Europe where Chinese manufacturers are producing those vehicles locally,

02:04which can also be good news for Europe.

02:06In terms of pricing, there might be indeed some short-term effects,

02:11where maybe there's less vehicles available, very short-term, for example, or the prices are a bit higher.

02:16But generally, it's very hard to say, because it really depends on the pricing strategies of Chinese car makers,

02:22and a lot of them have very comfortable profit margins.

02:25According to the expert, policymakers and the European Commission have an important role to play

02:30in simplifying the business environment for green industry.

02:34But it is also important to convince people to switch to green vehicles as quickly as possible.

02:40Sales of new cars have fallen sharply, 18.3% fewer than in the same period last year.

02:47As for electric cars, sales are stagnant in Europe, but growing globally.

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