(27 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Zwickau, Germany – 14 May 2019
1. Wide of assembly line
2. Mid of worker
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bergisch Gladbach, Germany – 27 March 2025
3. SOUNDBITE (German) Stefan Bratzel, director of Center of Automotive Management:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“The most heavily affected company is for sure Volkswagen with its brands Audi and Porsche. Volkswagen produces only 21% of its cars sold in the US on location. That means the rest of the cars come from Mexico and Europe. That’s why the company is very very heavily affected by these tariffs. But also the premium brands Mercedes and BMW, which sell roughly 16% of their cars in the US market, are affected even though they have plants on location. The exports to the USA will shrink. Of the roughly 450,000 cars exported from Germany to the USA at least 20 to 30% will be lost, possibly even more. The European car manufacturers need to try to reduce the damage through as many flexibility measures as possible. In the short term this will be very difficult. That means they will have to raise the prices of the cars sold in the US. Partially they will forgo margins. And in the medium and long term this will be about moving production and value creation to the United States.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Wolfsburg, Germany – 18 November 2016
4. Wide of VW plant
5. Mid of VW logo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Zwickau, Germany – 14 May 2019
6. Wide of assembly line
7. Mid of sparks flying on assembly line
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Wolfsburg, Germany – 8 March 2018
8. Wide of workers assembling cars
9. Cars on assembly line
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Wolfsburg, Germany – 10 March 2022
10. Wide of VW plant and river
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Wolfsburg, Germany – 8 March 2018
11. Workers assembling VW cars
12. Close of VW logo on car being assembled
STORYLINE:
Of the roughly 450,000 cars exported from Germany to the USA at least 20 to 30% will be lost due to tariffs, an analyst has said.
On Wednesday President Donald Trump announced a new 25% import tax which the European Automobile Manufacturers’ association said in a statement would "hurt global automakers and US manufacturing at the same time."
Stefan Bratzel, director of Center of Automotive Management, said Volkswagen with its brands Audi and Porsche, would be the worst affected as it produced only 21 per cent of its cars in the US, the rest coming from Mexico and Europe.
"That’s why the company is very very heavily affected by these tariffs. But also the premium brands Mercedes and BMW, which sell roughly 16% of their cars in the US market, are affected even though they have plants on location.”
European automakers, already struggling with tepid economic growth at home and rising competition from China, on Thursday decried the U.S. import tax on cars as a heavy burden that will punish consumers and companies alike on both sides of the Atlantic.
The head of Germany’s auto industry association, VDA, said the tariffs would weigh on car makers and every company in the deeply interwoven global supply chain "with negative consequences above all for consumers, including in North America.”
“The consequences will cost growth and prosperity on all sides,” Hildegard Müller said in a statement.
The stakes are enormous for BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Stellantis and their vast network of suppliers, as well as the entire European economy.
Bratzel suggested that European car manufacturers to be flexible by raising prices of cars sold in the US and foregoing margins.
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