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Erfurt (dpa / th) - Thuringia's automotive industry seems to be slowly recovering from the Corona crisis, according to a survey.

In the first two months of this year, a third of the companies achieved sales at the level of the same period of the previous year, which was not yet affected by the pandemic, said the Automotive Thuringia (AT) branch network in Erfurt on Friday.

In more than 60 percent of the companies surveyed, short-time work is no longer necessary.

Thuringia's automotive industry is mainly characterized by supplier companies.

In February 195 companies with a total of around 55,000 employees were asked about the current situation and their expectations for 2021, said AT Managing Director Rico Chmelik.

The companies are generally confident.

“Contrary to what was feared, a clear majority of companies assume that they will not run into liquidity problems.

And a clear majority also expects their number of employees to remain constant or even increase, ”explained Chmelik.

This applies to around 80 percent of those surveyed.

Thuringia's Minister of Economic Affairs, Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), said, “The Thuringian automotive industry is apparently seeing light at the end of the tunnel”.

However, it should not be overlooked that some companies are in a threatening imbalance.

The survey results are encouraging, however, because the industry in Bavaria had to accept significant losses of 25 percent in sales in 2020.

The reason was the ailing domestic business, while exports remained at least at the same level as in 2019.

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According to the survey, more than 40 of the companies expect that the pre-crisis level in production could be reached again in the next six to twelve months.

However, 56 percent were prepared for a longer recovery phase of more than 12 months.

According to Chmelik, 72 percent of the companies stated that they also had supply orders for e-vehicles.

Two thirds of the respondents assumed that sales increases from electric vehicles could be expected in 2021.

They named the lack of staff as the main problem.

40 percent of companies are already unable to fill vacancies.

There are bottlenecks in particular among engineers, mechatronics specialists, IT and automation specialists or developers.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210226-99-607859 / 2