Still It is not clear what tariffs the new US government will apply to cars and components not produced in the US., But the mere threat already shakes the German motorists.
For months these companies have announced mass layoffs in Germany after having reduced their benefits by 27 % last year due to the fall of sales in China (10 % on average) and the increase in costs.
25 % tariffs with which Trump wants to save jobs in the US. And weaken the dollar to stimulate exports They could cost almost 300 thousand jobs in the motor sector in Germany and reduce the profitability of the Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and BMW to unsustainable levels.
“In the German car industry, about 780 thousand people work today, they could soon be 500 thousand people. This industrial bleeds,” said the director of the Ferdi Automobile Research Center, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, in an interview with the German private television network NTV.
Therefore, the German car industry asks the European Union (EU) to negotiate with the Trump government.
The president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, believes that in Trump’s first mandate as US president, the EU and the US could reach an agreement.
The German car industry employ in the USA.
German manufacturers produced in 2024 in the US 844 thousand vehicles, of which half were exported to the rest of the world, so they can affect the against tariffs of other countries.
USA. It is Germany’s main commercial partner in the automobile sector with a business volume between both countries of 44 thousand 700 million euros in 2024, of these 36 thousand 800 million euros of Germany exports to the US. UU. And 7,900 million euros of imports.
The exports of the German car industry were 279 thousand 800 million euros in 2024, of these 13.1 % to the US.
Manufacturers analyze the impact
“As a global company, we trust constructive cooperation and policies that promote mutually beneficial trade in international markets,” a Mercedes-Benz spokesman told Efe.
“We will adapt to the changing situation of the market and the competitive panorama if necessary,” he added.
Mercedes-Benz, which was established in the US. In 1888 in Long Island City, New York, produces cars in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and vans in Charleston, South Carolina.
He directly employ in the US to 11 thousand 100 people and their 384 dealers, to another 28 thousand people, added the Mercedes-Benz spokesman.
The CEO of the Volkswagen Group, which Porsche, Audi, Seat and Skoda, Oliver Blume also belong, said when presenting the 2024 results that Trump’s tariffs affect the entry plans of the Spanish brand Cupra in the US. UU., Which was initially going to be through exports.
Blume emphasized that production cannot be changed in factories so quickly.
Volkswagen since 2009 has a production plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he uses 5,500 people, who assemble the electric SUV ID.4.
Since then, more than US $ 4,300 million has invested, according to the company’s figures.
To read more: why Trump tariffs on vehicles are a blow to the heart of North America
BMW uses 11 thousand people in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a factory that assembles 1,500 vehicles a day, half of them are exported (US $ 10 billion annual export value).
The sports manufacturer Porsche, who does not have production factories in the US, sells between 30 and 40 % of its vehicles in the US.
“German car manufacturers are not doing well. Sales are weak and high investments in electric mobility are not amortized because demand is not as strong as expected,” said the mobility director of the consultant EY for the Western European region, Constantin M. Gall.
In addition, there are problems cooked at home such as expensive software failures, restructuring costs and revision calls.
High investments in new models and innovation also cost a lot of money and reduce profitability margins. There is also no clear focus to address customer segments, or in the range of models, according to Gall. EFE