Daimler has to send thousands of employees on short-time work at two locations. The reason is not the sluggish sales, but the persistent shortage of electronic components. Most of the employees at the Mercedes plants in Rastatt and Bremen are affected. Daimler announced on Wednesday that car production would be reduced in the two factories and that short-time work would initially be applied for from April 23 to the beginning of May. More than 12,000 people are employed in the Bremen plant and around 6,500 in Rastatt. According to the company, employees in “strategic projects” and so-called basic functions are excluded from short-time working at both locations. This includes Daimler in the areas of maintenance and supply as well as qualification topics. First, local media reported on the short-time work plans at the respective locations.

Break at the wrong time

The production interruption apparently hit the Bremen plant at an inopportune time. The order situation is good, the “Weser Kurier” quotes a spokesman for IG Metall. In addition, the new C-Class produced in the plant there, which was presented in February and will soon be delivered to customers, is also affected. Daimler employees in Bremen had already been forced to take a break in January. At that time, too, the cause was the lack of semiconductor components. Upon request, Daimler did not comment in detail on the question of whether short-time work was now also planned for other plants. The only thing that was said was that they were in exchange with the chip suppliers and “if necessary” were to adapt the driving styles in individual plants. The situation is volatile, you drive on sight.

VW, Ford and Peugeot also affected

The global delivery bottlenecks for electronic chips are also forcing other car manufacturers to interrupt production. At Ford, for example, the production lines are at a standstill in some plants; at Volkswagen in Emden, production is interrupted for two weeks. Thousands of employees were put on short-time work. In France, the car manufacturer Peugeot, which belongs to the Stellantis group, is taking an unusual approach: Due to the lack of chips, analog speedometers will be used again in the 308 model instead of the digital speedometers originally intended. Digital dashboards are reserved for vehicles that are more in demand, such as the 3008 SUV. The customers should therefore receive a price discount, reported the French news broadcaster LCI. The current model of the Peugeot 308 expires in autumn. The next generation of compact cars should then have a digital speedometer again – provided that enough chips are available by then. So far, the car manufacturers have not dared to make a prognosis about the business effects of the chip shortage because the situation on the chip market is too confusing. According to analysts, however, the bottleneck has so far done more than harmed the corporations: As a result, the supply of new cars has decreased, while demand is high in China and the USA. This enabled higher prices to be enforced.

From Lothar Gries, tagesschau.de As early as 2017, soon after the takeover by PSA, there was an abundance of office space at the Opel headquarters. Because the French subjected the deficit German manufacturer to a strict austerity course that lost thousands of jobs. The emptiness was short-lived, however. Soon after the takeover, the German headquarters for the Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands moved from Cologne to Rüsselsheim. It has now been announced that the German subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is moving to the Opel premises. The car company Stellantis, which was founded in January, wants to control its business in Germany from there. While the office space is being brought to new life, the question remains of what place Opel will still have in the future, in the world’s fourth-largest car company, which comprises 14 brands. It is still too early to answer this question. But there is good news: The planned battery production at the Opel plant in Kaiserslautern is secured. As Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares announced at today’s general meeting, production should start at the end of 2025, two years after the start of a similar plant in France. “The supply of batteries will be strategically crucial,” said Tavares. According to earlier statements by Opel boss Michael Lohscheller, 2000 jobs will be created in Kaiserslautern. Nevertheless, there is great uncertainty among the Opel workforce. Because experts fear that the brand will face the same fate in the medium term as the former German TV manufacturers Grundig or Telefunken: The brands still exist, but they have long been backed by owners from Turkey, where the devices are also manufactured.

Experts fear new job cuts

Opel has already had to close one of its four plants in Germany (Bochum). And the company’s market share has shrunk significantly in recent years. In the best of times, 1.5 million vehicles were sold annually, last year it was only 630,000, including those from the British sister brand Vauxhall. After all, Opel is back in the black – an important turnaround after years of losses. But Stellantis must continue to be trimmed for returns. Five billion euros should be saved annually – three quarters of that by the end of 2024. To do this, as many identical parts as possible would have to be used for as many models as possible, says car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. He therefore fears further job cuts. Frank Schwope, industry observer at Norddeutsche Landesbank, is also convinced that only by reducing the enormous overcapacities in the entire group can it be prevented that Stellantis does not become Atlantis.

Is the “Made in Germany” quality sufficient?

Insiders therefore suspect that production in individual factories could be discontinued – for example at the Eisenach site, where the Grandland X urban off-road vehicle is being built. The main plant in Rüsselsheim could be downgraded to an assembly site for various Stellantis brands. In addition to the Opel flagship Insignia, a DS vehicle, the DS 4 from Citroen, will soon be built there. In an interview with the magazine “Capital”, Opel boss Lohscheller refers to the quality of the vehicles “Made in Germany”. As the only German brand in the group, this helps people perceive it. The engineers also succeeded in building a “real Opel” from the Corsa and Mokka models, despite the uniform platform. Someone “who feels this way, looks this way and drives this way”.

Opel also wants to sell cars in China

Lohscheller also hopes to finally be able to sell Opel vehicles in China. Like many other brands of the Stellantis Group, the brand with the lightning bolt is hardly represented there. China is the largest car market in the world. CEO Tavares recently spoke of a disappointing performance in the People’s Republic, which must improve. This is exactly where Lohscheller sees an opportunity. “I have the great hope that we will find a way that Opel comes to China because it is the largest car market in the world,” he said in an interview with the magazine “Capital”. A decision has not yet been made as to how and whether Opel will be involved in the planned China strategy.

Does the “heart” of Opel have to keep bleeding?

The question of the development center in Rüsselsheim, often referred to as the “heart” of Opel, has also not been resolved. Even now, of the 7,000 highly qualified employees, only 4,500 are left after a partial sale. Still too much, experts believe, because both PSA and FCA each employ a good 18,000 engineers in development. Expert Dudenhöffer therefore considers at least a third of the 36,000 jobs obsolete, because no car company needs four large development centers in the USA, Turin, Paris and Rüsselsheim, the expert said in an interview with the dpa news agency. Opel boss Lohscheller answers evasively when asked about the future of the Rüsselsheim development center. In a large corporation there is always internal competition, he said in mid-March. That triggers a lot of motivation and energy. He repeated almost defiantly: “Our development center is and will remain the heart of the Opel brand”.

VinFast expects a higher price than Ford

On April 12, Bloomberg reported that Vingroup was considering bringing VinFast on the US stock exchange to raise $ 2 billion. According to this source, the car company is currently working with consulting units to IPO (initial public offering) right in the second quarter of 2021.

The source of Bloomberg confirmed that if successful, the IPO could push VinFast’s valuation up to $ 50 billion. At that time, VinFast will immediately close to the top 10 largest car manufacturers in the world, on par with famous manufacturers such as Hyundai (51.38 billion USD), Honda (50.86 billion USD) and surpass Ford (49, 47 billion USD).

With a scale of $ 2 billion, VinFast’s IPO will be the largest ever IPO of a Vietnamese company, after Vinhomes’ first share sale worth $ 1.4 billion in 2018. This could also become the first Vietnamese company to list in the US.

Although VinFast is a fledgling company, the valuation may outstrip traditional Asian carmakers like Suzuki ($ 21.29 billion) and Japan’s Nissan ($ 20.63 billion).

VinFast IPO details including the size and timing may change as discussions with the consultant are in progress. Bloomberg also said that Vingroup representatives declined to comment on this information.

The top 10 car manufacturers with the highest market capitalization are currently Tesla of the US, Toyota of Japan, Volkswagen of Germany, Daimler of Germany, General Motors (GM) of the US, BMW of Germany, BYD and Nio of China. , Stellantis and Ferrari.