While Daimler is sentenced to 870 million in the engine-rigged case and Carlos Ghosn has been pinned by the American courts, the hope comes from Volkswagen, which announces that it wants to build its own batteries instead of importing them. Asia.
The swan song of the European car industry. In Germany, builders are in court.
European automakers are caught up in the rigged engine business.
This Tuesday, Daimler was fined 870 million euros. Volkswagen sees three of its leaders indicted. Not to mention the setbacks of Carlos Ghosn, the former master world of the sector.
It is clear that it is the end of an era that Europeans have dominated for a century with the end of the engine. After Paris, Strasbourg definitely wants to ban the Diesel in 2025.
Our manufacturers are ready to take up the challenge of the electric car?
They give the impression of going backwards.
The technical director of BMW set foot in the dishes saying "In Europe, people do not want an electric car". In fact, they account for less than 2% of sales.
More seriously, the boss of Bosch (which is an equipment manufacturer) refuses to let go of diesel technology because, he says, the Germans are unbeatable on this technology.
Why abandon it?
It is the syndrome "Kodak" which was the world champion of the argentic photography and which refused to let go this technology to go to the digital photo where he had no expertise, no added value. Kodak has gone bankrupt.
Renault is still the European No. 1 electric car with the Zoe.
But we still do not master the key technology, that of the battery.
In the electric car, the key is no longer the engine that is childlike simplicity, it's the battery. Europeans have resigned themselves to import everything from Asia.
Only one manufacturer has decided not to give up and go back in the ring, it is Volkswagen that announced Monday the construction in Salzgitter (Germany), a Volkswagen battery factory. No question of subcontracting and being dependent.
We wish good luck to Volkswagen because the car industry is not only a pride, but it is also and above all 14 million jobs in Europe.