Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Economics - Industrial Economics, grade: 1,3, University of Queensland, course: CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS IN EUROPE, language: English, abstract: Nowadays, “Germany is the third largest manufacturing country for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, one in ten of all vehicles produced worldwide comes off a production line in Germany” . For several decades the automobile industry has been a key sector in the German economy and the most active and largest Industry in the European Union . Germany is host to major car manufacturers, including prestigious brands such as: Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Volkswagen. These brands are world famous for their innovation and quality. They are both accepted and popular all over the world. This essay will describe the automotive industry in Germany and impact of regulations and policies placed on it from both the European Union and the German government. In particular the major markets, growth rates, annual expenditures/profits of this industry will be considered. Moreover, future impacts will be analysed whilst recommendations and justifications how to enter the industry will be given.

James Ruppert explains why German cars from the 1980s were quite simply, wunderbar. Because when it came to build quality, reliability and performance, every other car made anywhere else in the world was rubbish. The 1980s was a time when if you went shopping a VW Polo was the perfect companion. Beating an MG away from the lights was dead easy in a GTI and making a lasting impression meant arriving in an SL, SLC or any enormous Mercedes S-Class. It was a time when BMW M3s were racing certainties and a Quattro Turbo would always stay glued to the road. Getting poolside and on the sun lounger before the Germans only required one of their fine Audi 100 Avants. Proper showing off meant a Porsche 911 Turbo with its wonderful attention seeking tea tray rear spoiler. And the model that every young, upwardly mobile professional wanted parked outside his or her mews flat was a BMW 3 Series. Ruppert details how all these companies progressed to the 1980s and just what they did when they got there. Luckily he was there too, flogging BMWs at the prestigious West End Showroom in Park Lane, to yuppies, film stars and anyone else who could afford the non-refundable 10% deposit. From the author of the critically acclaimed, "The British Car Industry Our Part in its Downfall," here is his unique take on the German one, and why it won.

This book was born from curiosity. To begin with, it was the curiosity of an economist who studied in the 60’s in an environment which has subsequently developed from national into global economics. Who has to recognize that politicians, scholars and large segments of society oblivious to supranational authorities and e- nomic globalization forces continue to labour under the notion that they are still fully autonomous and sovereign when shaping national economic policy. And pretend as though their own national state were still the "m- ter in its own house" that despite unbridled market economics could c- tinue to dictate to the economy and companies how to live and in which "rooms". All that has become fiction. The laws of globalization diminish the - noeuvring space for shaping national economic policy. Even if many folks today don’t want to hear it: The issue is no longer achieving what is soc- politically desirable for the own society but rather the optimal adaptation of society and social benefits to the politically practicable.

Following the World Financial Crisis of 2008, the automotive manufacturing industry became witness to forceful change. Manufacturers around the globe began to experience heavy losses attributable to falling worldwide demand. Perhaps most striking, however, are the effects of the crisis on the automotive industry in Germany. Long considered a cornerstone for innovation, Germany also prides itself as the birthplace of the automobile, a tradition owing back to Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in the 1880s. Given that automotive manufacturing in Germany is also one of the largest sources of employment, GDP, and tax revenue for the country, it becomes important to ensure the viability of this industry. This work looks at manufacturing and sales trends of German passenger vehicles from the automakers Volkswagen AG (and therein Audi), Daimler AG, BMW, and Porsche, in order to see if their current manufacturing strategies will remain economically justified and sustainable in the long run. The analysis should help illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of this specific industry, and should be of interest to professionals in the Supply Chain and Manufacturing fields.