December 12, 2024 | Volkswagen Protests Heat Up

Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume was booed by a crowd of 20,000 employees after stating that the company is not “operating in a fantasy world.” The company already saw 100,000 union members walkout on Monday. “As management we’re not operating in a fantasy world. We are making decisions in a rapidly changing environment,” Blume stated. But the fantasy of climate change is indeed what the company is operating under.

Blume said that Volkswagen must begin to offload vehicles to Chinese consumers. Why would Chinese consumers by a European EV when they can purchase a Chinese model for a fraction of the cost? I recently discussed how even American auto CEOs were praising the technological advances of Chinese EVs. China was once a large market for Germany’s auto exports but that has changed since the government applied countless regulations in the name of climate change.

Then Volkswagen had its emissions scandal where it falsified emissions testing to sell to US consumers. I wrote in 2015: “This event appears to highlight the turning point of 2015.75; in hindsight, we will probably look back at this turning point as the start of a serious economic decline that will strike Europe’s biggest economy. The German car industry is the largest and what is unraveling is a taint upon all German cars, which is unfair. This involved diesel only. Nonetheless, things are never always fair.”

Now the company is looking to cut pay for 120,000 workers. Operating profits have fallen by 11.4% and they simply cannot continue producing these EVs at the same pace they were producing dreaded fuel-powered cars because the demand is not there. The government is actively preventing the auto industry from flourishing. It is a fantasy to believe that the German auto industry can continue adhering to the country’s climate change objectives that believe it can reduce carbon emissions by 65% within the next 5 years.

Yet another reason why the entire European Union is facing a recession. Germany is the bread and butter of the EU – the economic powerhouse. You had 17% of all GDP in Germany derived from the auto industry in 2023, and now the nation’s top auto manufacturer is struggling to make a profit.

China was a key player for Germany. Germany sold 241,000 vehicles to China in 2023, marking a large portion of its market share at a value of €15.1 billion. Auto suppliers were able to sell some €11.2 billion to China last year. Currently, one in five cars on the road in China have been manufactured in Germany. Yet, China’s own auto industry grew 156% over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023 after exporting 4.14 million vehicles last year. China is not adhering to the climate change agenda, and those same regulations derived from fictional data are not strangling China’s energy-dependent sectors.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz called China a “systemic rival,” but he failed to acknowledge the government’s role in stifling the private sector. The German Chamber of Commerce in China conducted a study this past September that revealed half of the 566 surveyed businesses planned to invest more heavily into China. Only 2% said they would be willing to sell off their Chinese operations, and 7% said they were considering a move away from China. Instead of working on open trade, all of the Western nations have deemed China an unfriendly nation to be wary of.

The move to end climate change is fundamentally driving a stake through the very heart of the German economy and therefore the entire EU. The mercantile economic model will continue to collapse under the fantasy world of climate change. While they may not reduce their carbon footprint, the Germany economy is certainly on track to reduce its economic footprint in the years ahead.

Martin Armstrong December 12th, 2024

Posted In: Armstrong Economics

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