The Best Time Of The Car Is Yet To Come

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

The automotive industry is once again looking to the future with optimism. In view of the good business in Asia and the trend towards alternative drives, the best time for the car is yet to come, said Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche.

After its severe crisis, the automotive industry is hoping for a new golden age, primarily thanks to the booming markets in Asia and the trend towards alternative drives. "The best time for the car is yet to come," said Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche on Friday at a "Handelsblatt conference" in Munich. "Not despite, but because of the upheaval in our industry." It is important to use the opportunities offered by the new sales markets and the environmental aspects.

Zetsche is surprised

He did not expect that the German manufacturers would recover so quickly after 2008 and the horror year 2009, said Zetsche. The economic recovery still harbors risks. "Of course, there is no such thing as 100 percent security," said Zetsche. But it is becoming apparent that things will continue to improve. The first months of the year were particularly successful for the German premium manufacturers.

"2010 as a whole could also be one of the best years in the history of the automobile," said Zetsche. After the strong growth, June could possibly be a record month for Daimler, said the CEO. The Stuttgart-based company wants to present figures on sales in the past month in the coming week. "Premium is currently developing particularly dynamically," said Zetsche. The rivals from BMW and Audi have also risen again in recent months.

Strong demand in Asia

Above all, the growing demand in Asia is driving the strong growth of the luxury brands. "China will play a key role in this," said Zetsche. This also applies to future developments that would fundamentally change automotive engineering. Among other things, Daimler works with the Chinese manufacturer BYD on electric cars. The Middle Kingdom is now the largest automobile market in the world and the heavy German luxury cars in particular are very popular there and also give manufacturers large profit margins. Audi sold more than 100,000 vehicles in China in the first six months alone and aims to break the 200,000 mark this year. BMW sold 75,615 cars in the same period and plans to reach more than 120,000 vehicles for the year as a whole.

The development of new, environmentally friendly drives also poses enormous challenges, said Zetsche. Work must continue on modern internal combustion engines, although they will not exist in the long term. At the same time, research would have to be carried out on other drives, even though these would initially not be economically viable. Opel boss Nick Reilly said that mainly technical difficulties had to be solved. These included the weight of the battery, the costs and the time it takes to charge the power storage. (dpa)