SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: More than 1.5 million workers in Germany depend on the automobile industry for their jobs. But that industry is now facing one of its worst crises ever. Respected giants BMW and Mercedes are particularly exposed as sales plummet.
It was time for Martin Winterkorn to relax. The exhausted chairman of the VW Group was sitting in a leather seat on the company jet, coming from a conference in Berlin where he warned attendees of the consequences of the financial crisis. It had been a long day. It was 9 p.m. and he was still in the air.
"We have never before seen this kind of a crisis," Winterkorn, 61, said at the conference. The German auto industry, he told his audience, must prepare itself for a "tough, prolonged dry spell." It would not be possible to avoid "difficult cuts" and "painful" measures, Winterkorn said.
Even after the conference, sitting in the company jet, the head of VW was still preoccupied with the question: "How bad is it really?" Winterkorn has been in the industry for decades, and he has weathered many a crisis. But now he too is baffled. "I don't know what else is going to happen," he said.
According to Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler, there are those in the industry who believe that "up to 100,000 jobs will be lost in the German auto industry in the next 10 years." Some, says Zetsche, are even suggesting that this is "the worst crisis since World War II." >>> By Dietmar Hawranek | November 25, 2008
NZZ Online: Porsche drosselt Produktion: Absatzeinbruch erwartet
Der Sportwagenbauer Porsche erwartet im laufenden Jahr einen Absatzeinbruch und drosselt seine Produktion. Aufgrund des weltweiten Nachfragerückgangs hätten im Stammwerk Zuffenhausen erstmals am vergangenen Freitag die Bänder stillgestanden, teilte das Unternehmen am Dienstag in Stuttgart mit. >>> | 25. November 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
