Then Kaput came to him: the German car industry is on the verge of crisis
According to the results of three quarters, German automakers reported billions of dollars in losses. The strong pressure from the greens and sharply increased costs due to the spike in energy prices have led to a decrease in demand for German-made cars on the domestic market. And the significantly increased duties on European models at the beginning of the year made them less attractive in the key foreign market, the United States. The German car industry is on the verge of a deep crisis that could turn into an economic disaster for the whole of Germany, experts say. The details are in the Izvestia article.
Everyone fell
According to the results of the third quarter, the operating loss of Porsche AG amounted to €966 million. This is stated in the company's financial report. The automaker's operating profit from January to September 2025 amounted to €40 million (compared to €4.04 billion last year for the same period).
The company explains such financial results by adjusting the electric car production plan. Last month, Porsche announced that it would postpone the launch of new models of electric vehicles due to the unpredictable dynamics of demand for them. In addition, the increase in losses was also influenced by the duties imposed by the United States on European cars at the beginning of the year.
"We expect 2025 to be a low point, followed by a marked improvement in Porsche's performance starting in 2026," Jochen Breckner, chief Financial Officer of Porsche AG, said in the report.
At the end of September, the company was excluded from the main German stock index DAX. This is due to the fact that over the past two years, the share price of Porsche has fallen by 67%, and the company's market value, according to European analysts, has dropped from €25 billion to €11 billion.
The situation is no better for other German manufacturers. According to the results of the first half of the year, BMW's net profit decreased by 32% to 1.842 billion euros. Audi made a profit of €1.3 billion over the same period, which is 37.5% less than the same indicator in 2024. Mercedes-Benz's net profit decreased by 55.8% (from €6.1 billion to €2.7 billion). Volkswagen's operating profit in the second quarter of 2025 decreased by more than 29%: from €5.43 billion to €3.83 billion.
According to Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen AG, the company is in critical condition and is inferior to its competitors, as production has not taken into account the dynamic development of the modern world and changing consumer desires.
"We have been resting on our laurels for too long. And we realized too late that the world is changing extremely fast and dynamically," he said in an interview with German media.
VW has been plagued by difficulties since last year: after the company's plans to close three factories in Germany in the fall of 2024 and reduce tens of thousands of employees, the concern's employees held several large-scale strikes at the beginning of winter. Now the concern is preparing to suspend production of some models, and also plans to reduce work shifts due to another problem with a shortage of chips.
"Green" hobbies
The automotive industry has experienced ups and downs over the years, recalls Igor Morzharetto, a partner at the Autostat analytical agency. The current crisis facing European, and above all German automakers, is related to a number of key reasons, he noted. According to the expert, the situation of the "perfect storm" is developing in the EU automotive industry.
— Largely due to the active implementation of the "green" agenda by the leadership of the European Union, car manufacturers of the Old World have embarked on the development and creation of electric cars and hybrids, — said Igor Morzharetto.
However, in China, at the state level, the strategy for the development of these modes of transport was adopted about 20 years ago. During this time, thanks to huge investments in this area, Chinese automakers have gone very far ahead — it will be very difficult, almost impossible for the "Europeans" to catch up with them, he believes.
— At the same time, against the background of the total fascination with the "green" direction of the automotive industry, European companies have almost completely forgotten about their traditionally strong side — internal combustion engines. And either they significantly reduced investments in these developments, or they completely abandoned gasoline and diesel engines. This was a fatal mistake: on the one hand, the EU automakers have not been able to achieve any significant results in the creation of electric vehicles, on the other hand, they have let go of their strong trump cards," Igor Morzharetto told Izvestia.
In his opinion, the key to overcoming the current crisis situation will be to review the "top-down guidelines" regarding the prospects for the development of transport using alternative fuels.
Another significant reason for the difficult situation in the German automotive industry was the refusal to use affordable energy resources from Russia, he noted. Cheap Russian gas allowed German automakers to keep prices for their cars at a more or less acceptable level. The transition to more expensive fuels and raw materials immediately affected the cost of cars and led to a decrease in demand, said the partner of Autostat.
The "shooting" of the automotive industry
The abandonment of Russian gas and oil has led not only to an increase in electricity prices, which are consumed by the EU automotive industry in huge quantities, but also to an increase in the price of plastics, polymers and other derivatives of the chemical industry used in the manufacture of cars, said Anton Shaparin, Vice President of the National Automobile Union.
— It was actually a "self-shot in the foot." The Americans "shot through" the second "leg" by introducing increased duties on cars from the EU at the beginning of the year. But for German automakers, the United States is a key export market. The "control shot" was fired by officials from the European Commission, in fact, imposing on automakers impossible and meaningless plans for a total transition to "green" models, he told Izvestia.
Wolfsburg and Detroit
The German car industry is on the verge of a colossal crisis, says Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rublem magazine. At the same time, the German government still has not even signaled support for the country's key industry, he notes.
— Without urgent measures to support the German automotive industry and a global revision of plans for the transition to zero-exhaust models, the crisis in the industry, which is the engine of the entire German economy, will worsen. Along the chain, difficulties and financial problems will affect other industries focused on the German automotive industry: energy, metallurgy, chemical. This will be a disaster for the whole country," Maxim Kadakov told Izvestia.
According to him, the cost reductions, staff reductions and plant closures announced by a number of German automakers could lead to German cities like Wolfsburg, which are "focused" on the automotive industry, repeating the fate of Detroit, a significant part of which turned from the center of the US automotive industry into abandoned neighborhoods with extremely high crime rates several decades ago.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
