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The European winners Automotive and Losers Drift Apart more.
The word blood is often mentioned in the context of the crisis in the European automotive industry, a sector that accounts for about 12 million jobs.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, for example, complained that the German automaker Volkswagen creates a bloodbath among its competitors with discounts and French Minister of Industrial Renewal Arnaud Montebourg announced that France will fight to the last drop blood for its industrial sites.
In fact, most European car manufacturers are seriously injured in 2012, car sales in Europe have reached their lowest level in 17 years, sales declined by 25 percent since 2007 alone, and there is no relief in sight.
Carmakers mass-market Ford Opel, Renault, Peugeot and Fiat are running at a loss in Europe, their plants often operate at half capacity Ford closes two auto plants in Britain and a Peugeot Belgium plans to close its plant near Paris and Opel is closing a plant in the western German city of Bochum.
So far, so bad, but the point of view of the companies, making their decline doubly frustrating is the fact that some companies are doing well.
Top of the list are the German competitors of the VW Group, BMW and Daimler Together, they sell more cars than ever, despite the weakness of the European market and then there are Korean manufacturer Hyundai, which comes to the French and Italians from the outside.
The automotive industry is a growth industry around the world, despite the economic crisis in the countries of Southern Europe, as well as loss of interest in cars among many Europeans, for which a motor vehicle is no longer a status symbol, but a means of transport which can also be rented on an as needed basis.
Demand is growing in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other markets outside of Europe Approximately 70 million vehicles were sold worldwide last year, and sales are expected increase to 90 million by 2020.
The German and Korean manufacturers are taking advantage of this development they have had a presence in these growth markets for some time in most cases, this involves more than just a distribution network for selling imported vehicles, but also have their own production facilities.
The gap between winners and losers continues to widen, creating a divided Europe in the automotive industry some companies are raking in billions, while others suffer losses that threaten to drive the business and when a European politician and blood mention the CEO in this situation, nationalism is never far away.
The French Industry Minister Montebourg said the workers at Hyundai and Kia sister brand are striking in Korea against a 12-hour day The French, he said, would be to participate in a form of social cruelty by buying Hyundais or Kias.
The French government has even asked the European Commission to monitor car imports from Korea According Montebourg, imports have risen sharply since a free trade agreement reduced tariffs.
The French move is nothing more than a diversionary tactic, because only 12 percent of Hyundai cars sold in Europe are of Korean Hyundai plant already produces more than half of its vehicles at its plant in the Czech Republic fares Clearly that will not deter Korean competitor.
The Korean success is not based on unfair competition, but on a simple recipe They build good cars at affordable prices A five-year warranty, Hyundai and a seven-year warranty Kia help dismantle preconceptions about the poor quality among Korean automakers.
Peugeot, Fiat and Opel have no good models worse, for years the management of these companies failed to globalize their brands.
They can hardly catch up in the middle of an economic crisis Building a distribution network in China, for example, takes years and costs several hundred million euros, but high losses rather forcing companies to reduce their investments Consequently, companies that are in crisis can do nothing more than try to slow their decline.
In these circumstances, it is almost understandable that they attack their competitors successfully Besides Hyundai, VW is a prime target for attacks in France and Italy The French weekly news magazine L Express printed Title VW über alles, an allusion to the opening words of the German national anthem, which were used during the Nazi regime.
It concerns me, says VW CEO Martin Winterkorn in a SPIEGEL interview Volkswagen hopes to be the largest automaker in the world in 2018 While competitors close plants, VW is opening new China, Russia and Mexico the New York Times recently praised German society for its thriving US.
Other automakers are expected to disappear deeply traditional brands like Saab The VW group has assembled eight Volkswagen cars, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti, three truck manufacturers MAN, Scandia and Volkswagen Vehicles commercial and a Ducati motorcycle manufacturer under one corporate roof.
VW also has plans to establish a brand low cost base to produce cars for the developing countries and if competitor Fiat slides further into crisis, VW Wolfsburg would even be interested in the acquisition of its subsidiary Alfa Romeo, to the chagrin of Fiat CEO Marchionne, who has repeatedly said Alfa Romeo is not for sale, he would like to see a merger between Fiat and Peugeot or Opel to fight against Volkswagen, but neither company is interested.
However, VW can t be indifferent to resentment is shaken France and Italy could harm the image of the company and thus make a dent in car sales The worst thing that can happen to someone who is successful he is hated, said VW CEO Winterkorn It does want his company to acquire a reputation for mowing down the competition.
Winterkorn takes a more friendly approach instead, for example, when management VW Karl-Thomas Neumann was hired as the new CEO of Opel, Winterkorn allowed him to withdraw from his contract prematurely.
As a result, Opel does not have to wait until June for the new CEO to take its VW functions also refused to file a complaint with the European Union when the French government granted internal bank Peugeot more 7000000000 April 9 billion loan guarantees the German automaker would have denounced the movement in case of illegitimate government support.
Even VW Chairman Ferdinand Council Monitoring Group Piech takes a reserved approach when asked to comment on the Fiat CEO Marchionne predictions of a bloodbath on the European car market, Piëch simply said it won t be bloody for we.
VW shows signs of excessive greed in the US VW Golf has recently launched the 7 in the US and brought supplies to Mexico where the prevailing wage in the auto industry is about 10 hours Germany .
VW shows signs of excessive greed in the US VW Golf 7 recently launched in the US and switched supplies in Mexico, where the prevailing wage in the auto industry is about 10 hours Germany where the prevailing wage is 67 and No. 14 hours nO rEDUCE thE pRIcE as owner golf 6, which is about 3 years old, I went to the local dealer and was disappointed to see the combination of materials lower quality and prices as high as before I do not intend to pay the price of German cars is a Mexican car with cheaper components in north America and lower quality VWs Mexican reputation make no mistake the Golf 7 is a nice car, but with interior components of quality far below that of the Golf of German origin 6 It also has a higher price that is competitive in the market segment which does not speak well for VWS stated goal of becoming the world's largest automaker has 30,000 compact VW made in Mexico is a VW joke uses the German engineer tag ing rather than Made in Germany for their Mexican cars built, but I can German Engineered buy a Ford Mexican Gar and the Fiesta was designed by Ford in Germany and is assembled for the US market in Mexico Now I hear that VW will pull the same with the sales of the Audi brand to VW stagnate United States and part of the problem is the price and the eastern-content with cars trying to squeeze every last Pfennig on each sale 6 Golf has a piston cover - Golf 7 US -a prop rod, plastic include thinner and cheaper- hard, the equipment is like a VW than GM Chevrolet German high prices and cheap let me watch an Audi A3 - toujour s of origin in Europe and built on the same MQB platform Jettaed- Golf was a reference to the way VW Jetta depreciated significantly in the last overhaul If VW is serious about the US market, they clean the house VW of America, where poor decisions seem to rule the day, people who Bü Volkswagens are the United States because he is a German car and is tuned like a German car and do not want a car brand VW is also cheaply made like Hyundai and rises like a Toyota.
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