Latest from Klaus-Dieter Floerecke
Increased military spending could offer new revenue opportunities for suppliers such as Bosch, ZF and Schaeffler that are cutting jobs amid weak auto sales.
VW wants to bring products to market faster by slashing development time and reducing vehicle production time.
Suppliers will continue to have a harder time than automakers in the coming years, especially as the trend towards insourcing accelerates among automakers.
Industry experts predict that only 200,000 of the 270,000 jobs currently held by suppliers in Germany will be left by 2030, a reduction representing about a quarter of the total positions today.
Bosch is reorganizing its top management, appointing company veterans to head its mobility services and newly created digital services divisions.
Bosch is reorganizing its top management, appointing company veterans to head its mobility services and newly created digital services divisions.
ZF is moving on after a failed attempt to take over brake manufacturer Haldex. The supplier's plans include expansion in electronic-braking technologies and developing new customer groups using ZF's e-platform concept, CEO Stefan Sommer said.
Spanish supplier Gestamp will continue along the growth path it started down when the auto industry was hit by the last financial crisis when it went on an expansion spree that boosted its operations in markets as far apart as Germany and China.
Holger Engelmann, the CEO of German roof specialist Webasto, believes a drop in demand for convertible cars will lead to consolidation in the sector, but he sees potential growth opportunities in China.
Once valued as a highly profitable vehicle niche, buyers have turned away from convertibles, hurting the business of roof systems suppliers such as Webasto, Magna CTS and Valmet.
