German builders lose first place in Japan

The situation of the German manufacturers is aggravated by international standards. This is the conclusion of a study by the consulting firm EY. As a result, Japanese competition in the third quarter in terms of sales, sales and profits outpaced the Germans. However, the auto industry is also facing a crosswind around the world, as shown by the recent job cuts at General Motors.

Total profits of the world's 16 largest auto companies fell 3.3% in the third quarter, with the average margin (earnings before interest and taxes as a percentage of sales) falling to 5.3%, the lowest level since the financial crisis. As Japanese firms gained in profitability, German manufacturers lost momentum. Nobody invests as much in the future as them.

"The third quarter was disappointing for many automakers and by the end of the year, the situation is unlikely to improve," says Peter Fuss, partner at EY. Sales in China and the United States are down and, in Europe, the move to the WLTP exhaust test procedure, uniformly uniform throughout the world, has resulted in a significant drop in sales.

Worry for the Chinese market

"The global economy has deteriorated and a new escalation of the trade war between the US and China is not excluded," continued Fuß. "It would further slow down the buying atmosphere in the important Chinese market."

Sales Manager is currently Toyota : Between July and September, the group sold 2.68 million cars, the Volkswagen Group sold 2.41 million cars. The Japanese were able to increase their sales by 1.9% compared to the same period last year, while Wolfsburg had lost 2.6%.

The first position in terms of profitability was BMW Suzuki engine and Toyota, with respective margins of 8.7% and 7.9% in the third quarter. BMW follows in third place with 7.1%, which is significantly less than in the same period last year, while Munich was still double-digit.

On the other hand, research and development spending rose significantly in the first half of the year by almost 10% to 12.4 billion euros. More than half of this sum is reserved for Volkswagen. Japanese builders invested 10.3 billion euros