REWIND themed excursion: The German car manufacturers are slowly getting back on track – example VW and BMW | News

First of all, to clarify: No, I am not suddenly becoming an autoblogger and this topic remains an exception. But as a person interested in technology and a driver – which includes a large part of REWIND’s readership – I’m once again allowing myself to look outside the box and put this “off-topic” topic up for discussion.

The end of the car misery?
Based on readings in the press and the general mood on the internet, it seems to be a done deal: the German car industry has lost its mojo and, so to speak, the fight against the tsunami of electric cars from China. And that’s because they slept. Way too long! Above all, the hesitant shift to electromobility and the supposedly too clinging clinging to the combustion engine will be the reason for the decline of our once proud auto industry.

In fact, the sharp decline in profits for almost all German brands speaks for itself quite clearly. I’ll look at this from my own little perspective. You have to know that I have always been a convinced and enthusiastic car fan since I was 18, and have always been dependent on a car for both professional and private purposes. From the Golf I to my last car, a BMW Z4 M40i, I never seriously considered buying a foreign model. I have driven almost all German car brands. All combustion engines – so far. But a lot has changed. Both in my life and in the attractiveness of the vehicle offerings.

First of all, I don’t drive long distances by car as much these days. As a self-employed online worker, I neither have to commute to work every day nor do I have to constantly travel long distances – apart from occasional visits to trade fairs, which I have reduced over time.

In addition, the leasing costs of German car manufacturers suddenly exploded at the beginning of the 2020s. If I had wanted to lease the same vehicle as before, I would suddenly have to pay several hundred euros more per month. Given my annual mileage, this was no longer a healthy ratio. Even if I had wanted to afford it as a pure luxury, it no longer seemed appropriate to me. Since I still have access to a small family car with which I can do everything I need, I have completely forgone having my own car for the first time since I was 18.

But there were other reasons. And primarily because I actually wanted to switch to an electric car, but two or three years ago there was absolutely NOTHING that even remotely convinced me. The technology seemed to me not to be sophisticated enough in many areas, the prices were too high and the cars were just terrible. – Playful, over-the-top, equipped with unnecessary gadgets that don’t work properly (such as lane departure warning systems that caused the vehicle to constantly oscillate between the boundary lines). It’s all just smooth, characterless shells that desperately want to build on the future, but have no style whatsoever and simply create zero desire-to-have appeal for a car fan like me.

Til today.

This year, two very differently positioned models from German car manufacturers are coming onto the market, which could represent a turning point in the misery. Of course, it still remains to be seen whether this will happen or not. But this is where things start to get interesting again for me.