Automobile Industry

The car industry has remained one of the pillars of the German economy. Currently about 1.26 million people are employed in the car industry. In 1998 5.73 million cars were produced and 3.27 million of these were exported. Daimler-Benz is the largest of the three major players, Volkswagen being the second and BMW the third.

The car industry is, however, facing the biggest changes since the introduction of mass production. With ever changing markets and fluctuating economies mass production in the old sense may be on its way out. Cars that are not sold quickly turn into huge losses for their company. This may be avoided by introducing more flexible production systems. The idea is to produce cars according to customers wishes and, more importantly, when they want to buy them. This idea is based on BTO (built-to-order) systems. In Germany about 60% of cars are built according to orders placed directly or indirectly with the factory. The next step, mass customisation, would suit both customer and manufacturer. The problem is to develop a production system that can adapt quickly to a changing demand and supply at a lower cost. Together with American and Japanese car makers Volkswagen is involved in the so-called "3DayCar" project which tries to apply the mass customisation model initiated by the computer manufacturer DELL to the car industry. Considering the size of German car manufacturers like Volkswagen and Daimler-Benz, these new production methods may mean major changes on a huge scale.

Another change is the increasing size of car manufacturers. The five leading corporations worldwide are General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Volkswagen. The worldwide overproduction of cars and fluctuating markets have meant that all five have been involved in a number of acquisitions and mergers in order to consolidate their position as global players. DaimlerChrysler is now said to be interested in Mitsubishi Motors and Volkswagen in BMW.

German Car Exports to Ireland
In the year 2000 about 25% of all new cars bought in Ireland were of a German brand. (55.160 vehicles). The largest number of imports, 37 700 cars, were by Volkswagen.

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