The N\u00fcrburgring in the Western hills of Germany is the world’s longest permanent race track. It’s almost a century old and was the site of many Formula One Grand Prix races.<\/p>\n
The track’s\u00a0main part is called the Nordschleife, or the Northern Loop. The 20.8-kilometer (12.9-mile) track is nicknamed the “Green Hell” \u2014\u00a0because of the surrounding forests of the Eifel region, and its punishing layout.<\/p>\n
German carmakers test their vehicles to the maximum at N\u00fcrburgringImage: Thomas Frey\/imageBROKER\/picture alliance <\/p>\n
To understand the importance of engineering and performance in German carmaking, the Nordschleife is a good place to start, said Misha Charoudin, car racer and influencer.<\/p>\n
“If a car can do a good lap time here, it means all the components work: suspension, tires, engine, chassis, and of course also the driver itself,” he said, while barreling through a corner at 190 kilometers per hour\u00a0(118 miles per hour). “It’s better than a roller coaster.”<\/p>\n
Testing at the race track<\/p>\n
All the big carmakers have test centers at the N\u00fcrburgring, he said. In fact, the testing of cars was\u00a0an important reason for building the race track in 1927.<\/p>\n
YouTuber Misha Charoudin takes car enthusiasts to speed on the N\u00fcrburgringImage: Andreas Becker\/Nicolas Martin<\/p>\n
Germany’s auto industry<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0used this legacy, and the no-speed-limit Autobahn, Germany’s public highway system, to its advantage in advertising and brand building.<\/p>\n Brands like Mercedes-Benz<\/a>,\u00a0BMW<\/a>, Audi<\/a>\u00a0and Volkswagen<\/a> stood for precision engineering, performance and reliability. They weren’t just cars \u2014 they were cultural icons, and the backbone of Germany’s economy.<\/p>\n But today, that magic is fading.<\/p>\n Lost\u00a0Wunderland<\/p>\n Germany’s auto industry employs over a million people and has long been a barometer of economic health. In 1950, German car makers sold about 200,000 vehicles. Today, they sell around 14 million globally. For decades, the formula was simple: world-class engineering plus global demand equaled success.<\/p>\n But the good times are over. Sales are shrinking, jobs are being cut\u00a0and factories face closure. “The pressure rises, the cost savings are tremendous,” said one Mercedes employee, who wished to remain unnamed. “It’s all about cost cuts everywhere.”<\/p>\n The first cracks appeared in 2015 with Dieselgate<\/a>, when Volkswagen was caught cheating on emissions tests. The scandal cost VW more than \u20ac30 billion ($35 billion) and shattered trust in German brands. Worse, it coincided with a global pivot toward climate-friendly technologies. While Tesla doubled electric car sales, German manufacturers hesitated.<\/p>\n China: From gold rush to lost ground<\/p>\n For years, China was the promised land. In the 1980s, China’s\u00a0political leaders invited Volkswagen (which in German translates to “car of the people”) to form joint ventures and build cars in China, for China’s people. There were times when Volkswagen’s market share approached 50%.<\/p>\n Later, other carmakers followed suit. The more China’s economy grew, the bigger the country’s car market became. Until a few years ago, Germany’s car makers sold every third car in China.<\/p>\n “It was gold digger time,” recalled\u00a0Beatrix Keim, who spent two decades with VW in China and is now a director at CAR, an industry consultancy in Duisburg. “Selling lots of cars, earning lots of money. There was not much of a Chinese competition.”<\/p>\n China’s chance to overtake German carmakers\u00a0<\/p>\n But China had a plan: learn from foreign partners, then lead. In 2009, Beijing passed to law to pushelectric vehicles<\/a>. “It was not really driven by climate change,” Keim explained. “It was to find a technology where China had a chance to overtake the foreigners, where China could thrive.”<\/p>\n German carmakers didn’t see this coming, she added. They had underestimated the determination of China’s leadership, and the speed of development.\u00a0<\/p>\n Billions in subsidies and infrastructure later, China is now the world leader in electric vehicles and batteries.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Starting with EV, they had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to overtake Germany. And they did,” said Manuel Vermeer, who teaches Chinese culture and business at the University of Applied Sciences in Ludwigshafen.<\/p>\n Today, every second car sold in China is electric \u2014 and almost all are Chinese brands. German sales have tanked in their most important market.<\/p>\n “I think it has a lot to do with arrogance”, said Vermeer. “I’ve been conducting intercultural\u00a0trainings for Germans regarding China for more than 30 years. And the German point of view is always: We are superior, how can we teach them what to do, they should learn from us. But hardly ever was it\u00a0something like: We could learn from them, we should listen more, or maybe they are different from what we think?”<\/p>\n And Germany depends on China for batteries. “Even if we build very good EV cars, we’d still need the batteries from China,” said Vermeer. “We are more dependent than we used to be.”<\/p>\n With China slipping away, attention is turning\u00a0to India, now the world’s most populous country. Could it be the next big thing?<\/p>\n Can India fill the gap?<\/p>\n If you watch the dense traffic in Chennai, a city in India’s southeast, you rarely spot a German car. Indian, Japanese\u00a0and Korean cars\u00a0dominate the streets of the city that is often called “India’s Detroit,”\u00a0due to its many car factories.<\/p>\n BMW’s Chennai plant produces just around 80 cars a day, compared to 1,400 at the carmaker’s\u00a0German flagship. Still, growth is strong \u2014 over 10% annually.<\/p>\n “There’s a big rush to the Indian market,” said plant manager Thomas Dose. “Everybody feels like: if we are not in India now, we’ll miss some opportunity.”<\/p>\n But Dose is realistic.\u00a0“Is India the new China? I would say no. It’s India, it’s different. It has its potential. But we will not have this extensive growth like in China.”<\/p>\n Experts agree. India<\/a>‘s market is promising, but German carmakers face cultural hurdles. “We want to sell the best cars in the world,” said Vermeer. “But that’s over-engineering. In India, being at 80% works\u00a0\u2014 get feedback, adapt. Our sense of ‘perfect’ is not the best thing for this market.”<\/p>\n Lessons learned \u2014\u00a0or too late?<\/p>\n Beatrix Keim believes German carmakers are trying to change.\u00a0“They understood they need to be faster, come down from their ivory tower\u00a0and learn,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the race for building successful electric vehicles is in full swing. In China, local EV manufacturers are struggling with overcapacities and falling prices. They are\u00a0also trying to sell their EVs in Europe, so far with moderate success.\u00a0<\/p>\n But EV carmakers from China and elsewhere are testing their cars on Germany’s own N\u00fcrburgring, a symbolic twist in a story of lost dominance.<\/p>\n Could German carmakers miss the boat entirely? “It can happen,” said racing Misha Charoudin. “Look at [Finnish mobile phone maker]\u00a0Nokia. They were thriving. And then all of a sudden, they missed the boat.”<\/p>\n Want the full story? Listen to DW’s new podcast series:\u00a0Delayland: Germany and the Missing Magic\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Also\u00a0on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Youtube<\/a> or wherever else<\/a> you get your podcasts.<\/p>\nThomas Dose, BMW plant manager in Chennai: ‘We will not have this extensive growth like in China’Image: Andreas Becker\/Nicolas Martin<\/p>\n
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