17th Symposium - The Working Prozess of the Internal Combustion Engine
Automotive clusters in Germany and Baden-Württemberg
Authors
Dr. Albrecht Fridrich, automotive-bw c./o. RKW Baden-Württemberg
Year
2019
Summary
In January 2019, in an article about job cuts at Ford and JLR, Automobilwoche wrote that "the end game in the automotive industry has begun". The signs are unmistakable. At increasingly shorter intervals in the last few months, the article says, profit warnings have been issued and dire forecasts made. Now, it continued, things are also coming to a head in Europe: British auto maker JLR (which belongs to Tata, the Indian company), Ford and Kuka have announced job cuts in Europe. The list of problems with which manufacturers and parts suppliers are equally having to struggle is long, says the article. The trade conflict between China and the US, it goes on, has made
many cars more expensive and led to a reluctance to buy, whereas growth in China, which is the world's most important market, has lessened considerably for the first time in many years. The stricter certification tests such as WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) are delaying deliveries and causing gaps in supplies, says the article, whereby stricter CO2 regulations, Brexit chaos and the diesel crisis are making life difficult for the manufacturers in Europe.
Members of the Austrian Society of Automotive Engineers have access to all lectures of the International Vienna Motor Symposia.