At a press conference with European journalists, Florian Hüttl emphasized: "In Germany, you cannot produce "battery" cars worth from 25 to 30 thousand euros. It's all about the level of wages and the cost of electricity. These costs increase the pores needed to produce an electric car to an unacceptable level." The recognition comes after a massive 27 percent drop in Stellantis sales in the third quarter of this year.
The Opel company has recently been owned by the Stellantis concern, but the factories are still located in Germany. According to Huettl, it is difficult to mass-produce (and cheap) electric cars in this country, and there are no alternatives to achieve this. In Eastern Europe, the problems are very similar. And imports from China are economically impractical due to EU-imposed barrier tariffs.
Florian Hütl does not hide his fears that, in his opinion, the German car industry has a gloomy outlook. "Without government support, electric car sales will continue to fall and only a long-term program to subsidize "battery" cars will be able to change the situation. The current targeted measures to support the German authorities are clearly insufficient."
The position of the head of Opel is also shared by the largest automobile giant - the Volkswagen concern. Three German VW plants are threatened with closure, staff will be immediately dismissed or forced to work at significantly lower pay. The de-industrialization of the German automotive sector will happen in only ten years.