Germany’s economy falters for a 2nd year in a row as car industry sputters

Europe’s largest economy isn’t looking healthy.

Today, Germany reported a second consecutive annual drop in GDP, with high energy costs and rising interest rates constraining growth. At the same time, its iconic automotive industry is grappling with one of its biggest threats in decades: competitors from China, which last year became the world’s largest auto exporter.

Braking bad

This week, a slew of Germany’s top carmakers reported slumping deliveries in 2024. Global sales at Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz slipped 2%, 4%, 3%, and 3%, respectively, from the previous year... largely driven by even sharper respective declines in China of 10%, 13%, 28%, and 7%.

That compounds a miserable few years for many of the car industry’s most revered names, having collectively shed hundreds of billions of dollars in market cap, with Volkswagen alone down nearly €100 billion since 2021.

See the full article here.