German auto industry trade group, VDA on Friday, said in a forecast that the country’s automobile production would likely fall by 25% from 4.66 million units in 2019 to 3.5 million in 2020, with domestic new-car registrations seen to decline by 23% from 3.61 million to 2.8 million over the same period.
Separately, research group Ifo last week said German auto output would recover in the second half, but it would unlikely compensate for the unprecedented collapse in the preceding period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
VDA president Hildegard Muller said that the deep slump in auto production had affected not only manufacturers but also many medium-sized suppliers. Muller expected that employment in the sector would continue decreasing through the end of the year. So far, the German auto industry managed to only lose about 3% of its workers despite the deep production slump, but many of the employees are now still on short-time working.
Muller called on the EU to provide an ambitious industrial policy package which includes the build-up for electric vehicles as a way out of the crisis. She said that the industry should offer a mix of EVs and low-emission gasoline and diesel vehicles, to meet different transport requirements in many use cases.
