Germany's car industry is losing its famous Vorsprung – and it can't all be blamed on Trump and tariffs | Konstantin Richter

11/14/2024 02:00 AM

It was once the envy of the world – but now its arrogance and failure to change or take risks lie at the root of its decline

About 50 years ago, a man named Hans Bauer who worked in marketing for a German carmaker came up with the slogan Vorsprung durch Technik or "advantage through technology". Poetry it wasn't. The slogan seemed a little clumsy and too heavy on consonants, sounding harsh even to German ears. But it stuck because it captured something that rang true. The Germans had an edge in manufacturing cars and other machines.

The company that employed Bauer was Audi, which has used the slogan ever since. For a long time, there seemed to be no need for adjustment. True, whenever the Germans experienced an economic downturn, they asked themselves whether the all-important carmakers had lost their edge. But then some tweaks would be made, and the engine would roar back to life. This time feels different. And that's not just because of recent bad news, which includes BMW and Mercedes posting profit warnings, Volkswagen pondering massive job cuts and, on top of it all, Donald Trump threatening to slap steep tariffs on US imports. It's because the Germans are now realising they may have lost that special something called Vorsprung.

Konstantin Richter is a Berlin-based writer who is now working on a book about the history of corporate Germany