Tens of thousands of jobs could be lost, radical austerity measures must be implemented – there is a lot of turmoil in the automotive world. And the turbulence in the automotive industry is also affecting other industries. Glass manufacturers are taking maintenance breaks in factories, which is worrying window manufacturers. Rosenbauer even received the chassis earlier than planned.
Audi wants to pull the plug on its Brussels factory, Chinese manufacturer Nio is seen as a possible new owner; At Magna in Graz, a thousand jobs have been cut in the past twelve months, which is also linked to the turbulence at Fisker; At Volkswagen, up to 30,000 jobs are expected to be at stake as a result of the tough austerity measures, which are supposed to cut costs by several billion euros…
“The competition with China is very big”
These three examples show how the automotive industry, especially in Europe, is currently swinging between full throttle, towards new forms of driving and emergency braking. “We see that the competition with China is very fierce,” said voestalpine CEO Herbert Eibensteiner on Tuesday.
Sale of Buderus Edelstahl: decision in the coming weeks
The steel company is reorganizing locations in Germany “to adapt to the volumes,” Eibensteiner explains. The sale of Buderus Edelstahl is ongoing and not yet completed. “That will be decided in the coming weeks,” says the voestalpine boss.
Although suppliers are directly affected by the difficulties in the automotive industry, there are also consequences for companies that are active in other sectors. For example, the Traun window manufacturer Internorm sources its flat glass from manufacturers that also supply the automotive industry. “Because things are not going so well at the moment, maintenance shutdowns for the factories are often brought forward,” company spokesman Christian Klinger recently revealed. Bottlenecks are possible: “We are not feeling this at the moment.”
Chassis delivered earlier than planned
The situation at Rosenbauer, however, is different. The Leonding-based fire brigade supplier, which had to contend with huge delays in completing vehicles due to strained supply chains, is now receiving individual chassis even earlier than planned.
“We are working on taking this into account in our production planning, because the chassis also needs the other components,” says CEO Sebastian Wolf. It is said that we are constantly checking whether individual orders can be brought forward.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
