Ifo barometer falls: car bosses are becoming even more pessimistic

Ifo barometer falls
Car bosses are becoming even more pessimistic

The car manufacturers are actually doing well – for the time being. The chip crisis is making the mood of the car bosses even lower. Suppliers are also worried that they will not be able to keep up with the structural change in the industry.

The mood in the boardrooms of the German auto industry deteriorated again in October due to ongoing material shortages. The barometer for the business climate fell by 1.3 to 8.5 points, as the Ifo Institute announced in its monthly survey. For comparison: In July it was still 28.7 points.

“Manufacturers and their suppliers rate the current situation very differently,” said the head of the Ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies, Oliver Falck. The manufacturers are doing very well so far. The corresponding indicator for the current situation even rose to 46.2 points, after 29.9 in September. “The sales markets abroad are still doing well,” said Falck. Although the export indicator fell, it held its own at a good level of 30.5 points. The manufacturers’ order books are therefore well filled and they are expecting an increase in production.

“However, all manufacturers continued to complain about delivery bottlenecks,” said Falck. Microchips are missing in many places. The car manufacturer Opel, for example, announced that it would close its plant in Eisenach at least until the end of the year due to a lack of semiconductors. BMW, on the other hand, assumes that 80,000 to 100,000 cars will not be able to be built for the year as a whole due to the chip crisis.

The situation for suppliers remains significantly gloomy. This barometer is still below the zero point mark – even if it improved slightly to minus 9.8 points, after minus 11.5 in September. The suppliers complain about a lack of orders and declining demand. They hardly expect any stimulus from the export business: this indicator rose to 1.8 points, after minus 1.8 in September. The production outlook remained cautious with plus 4.3 points, after minus 1.3 in September. Falck: “The figures show the concern of many suppliers that they will not be able to keep up with the structural change in the automotive industry.”

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