SAge no one that Germany in the new age of electric cars can no longer manage success stories. One began almost exactly eight years ago at a Porsche trade fair stand. At the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, the Swabian luxury brand showed the snow-white painted study of a new type of four-door electric sports car. The Stuttgart-based company had christened the flat racer Mission E. Three months later, Porsche announced a production model based on the show vehicle.
It was the birth of the Taycan, the first all-electric Porsche, which finally came onto the market in 2019 and was an instant hit. At times, Porsche sold more vehicles from its battery-powered sports car with the super-silent electric drive, which can cost over 150,000 euros depending on the variant and equipment, than from its sports car icon 911. And the best thing about it: the successful model not only filled the till, it brought the brand also new customers. Every second Taycan buyer has never driven a Porsche before.
Now it’s the IAA again, even though she’s moved from Frankfurt to Munich in the meantime. In Autoland Germany, the PS performance show, which begins on Monday, is still the trade fair with the most visitors. But since 2007, the number of visitors has more than halved. This time, instead, thousands of climate stickers and other activists in the Bavarian state capital want to unleash an unprecedented storm of protest against the automobile.
And there is still a huge difference from before: Never before has Germany’s largest industrial sector been under so much pressure from new competitors as it is today. Anyone who talks to car managers and industry experts this fall will hear variations of this one sentence over and over again: “We have to reinvent ourselves.”
For many decades, Germany’s car manufacturers and their suppliers were an undisputed automotive world power. But the switch from the internal combustion engine to the electric drive and the digitalization of the car are a transformation of the century for this industry – and a unique market entry opportunity for new competitors. The car world is being re-divided. It is uncertain how much of this the German manufacturers will get.
The Mercedes star and the BMW kidney have always been a guarantee of quality and advanced technology under the hood. “No car without Bosch” has always been the self-confident motto of the world’s largest automotive supplier. In the premium segment, i.e. cars in the upper price range, Mercedes, BMW and Audi traditionally have global market shares of 60 to 70 percent. “It’s utopian to think they can keep it,” says a veteran industry professional. “The big question is: how much are they going to lose?” Maybe just a little, maybe a lot.
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