I wonder who wins?
Labor Costs, Sick Leave, Productivity: Confidential Document: VW Compares German and Chinese Workers.
Ten percent of VW workers in Germany are sick at any given time. In China it’s less than two percent.
But at least in China these workers will soon be replaced by robots who will be working 24/7 and never call in sick.
That Germany would allow driverless rides before the year 2060.
Waymo to launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027, entering third market outside U.S. – Alphabet’s Waymo on Tuesday said it plans to roll out robotaxi rides in Germany in 2027, marking its third international market and first in the EU.
Waymo will start “phased” testing in Munich over the next few weeks, with plans to launch to the public at the end of next year, the company said in a blog post. The testing aims to build high-definition street maps, train autonomous specialists and adapt software to the city’s “distinct driving conditions.”
And keep fallin’.
Germany’s auto industry loses over 42,000 jobs in six months – Germany’s struggling automotive industry is facing further pressure as employment in the sector continues to decline.
According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of people employed at automotive manufacturing companies fell by 42,300, or 5.8%, in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2025.
Following the decline, employment in Germany’s automotive industry dropped to 691,500. This is the lowest level recorded since 2005.
But you wouldn’t want to live there.
It’s no better than living in the past.
Germany and Japan test hydrogen future with BMW, Toyota cars – During a recent visit to Japan, Germany’s transport minister Patrick Schnieder toured hydrogen projects aimed at bringing the fuel into the mainstream…
Hydrogen remains niche fuel for now – Meanwhile, German and Japanese authorities are exploring ways to finance the hydrogen production boost that will help reduce price spikes. After all, at first green hydrogen will be significantly more expensive than fossil fuels. Siemens Energy and Toray want to improve electrolysis technology for green hydrogen, while Thyssenkrupp Nucera is eager to tap into the Japanese electrolysis market.
More like a dead cat bounce.
German Economy Grows by 0.3% in Q4, Stats Office Says – The German economy grew by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the previous quarter, the statistics office said on Wednesday, confirming its preliminary reading.
Meanwhile… German auto exports to China plunged by a third in 2025, economic institute says.
That means to shoot yourself in the foot, only in German it’s the knee.
With the highest energy prices in Europe (in the world?), what choice does German industry have but move? Go Greens.
German auto industry in ‘crisis’ as investments, jobs move abroad, lobby says – Germany’s standing as an automotive industrial hub risks being hollowed out as investments and jobs drift abroad, an industry association warned on Tuesday, calling on Berlin and Brussels to focus on measures that spur growth.
“Germany is experiencing a huge crisis as a business location,” VDA President Hildegard Mueller said.
A VDA survey of small- and medium-sized German enterprises across the auto supply chain, presented by Mueller on Tuesday, showed that 72% of companies plan to dial back their investments in Germany, either by moving them abroad (28%), postponing them (25%) or cancelling them completely (19%).
But “hold out” until you finally figure out that nobody wants them here, EVs.
Then the German automobile industry as we knew it will be dead.
Germany holding out for ‘real boom’ on EVs despite strong 2025, EY says – Germany’s electric car market showed strong growth in 2025 but remains on unsteady footing, according to an EY analysis of registration data released on Tuesday.
The 43% year-on-year rise was largely due to a rebound in growth after a muted year in 2024, when the end of a federal subsidy for electric cars had weighed on demand, the consultancy said. The increase in 2025 compared to 2023 was just 4%.
“We haven’t seen a real boom yet – the hoped-for surge in e-mobility in Germany is proving to be much more protracted and difficult than expected,” said EY mobility specialist Constantin Gall.
Then a second, then a third…
Volkswagen shutters a German plant for first time ever as Trump tariffs squeeze car giant – Volkswagen is ending vehicle production at its Dresden factory — the first time in the automaker’s 88-year history that it has closed a plant in its home country — as weakening demand and punishing US tariffs squeeze the German car giant.
The last vehicle rolled off the line Tuesday at the Dresden site, known as the “Transparent Factory” because of its glass-walled design, capping 24 years of production that began in 2001.
And voluntarily killing their number one industry in the process.
That’s why.
Why Germany’s auto capitals face financial crisis – The crisis in Germany’s revered car industry is taking a toll on its wealthiest regions — and hitting the pocketbooks of residents.
That’ll be easy.
It couldn’t be any more car-unfriendly.
‘The car belongs in Berlin’: city backpedaling on bike-friendly policies, critics say – Car-critical measures have been slashed since the conservative CDU came into power in 2023, triggering protests and dividing communities.
Observing Hermann 