Situation in the German Automotive Industry Considerably Worse
Sentiment among German automotive manufacturers and their suppliers cooled noticeably in August ahead of the IAA, with the corresponding ifo indicator plummeting from 56.4 points to 28.8 points. This is its lowest level since April. “This shows, that the automotive industry is still suffering from supply bottlenecks in intermediate products, especially chips,” says Oliver Falck, Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.
Expectations rose only slightly, from 6.7 points to 7.1 points. Production plans for the coming months brightened, however, rising from 24.3 points to 34.8 points. The same is true of export expectations, which rose from 8.6 points to 15.1 points.
Demand contracted month over month, from 24.8 points to 6.7 points. Companies once again rated their stock of finished goods as worse in August; the figure dropped from minus 33.3 points to minus 42.1 points. Employment expectations dipped into negative territory, from plus 6.2 points to minus 5.0 points. “These fluctuations reflect the profound structural change in which the automotive industry finds itself,” Falck says.
