Frankfurt/Eppstein (dpa/lhe) - According to a recent study, Hessen's auto industry has good chances of benefiting from digital progress. The experts at the German Economic Institute (IW) have identified the areas of automation, networking and electrification as billion-dollar opportunity markets. The employers' association Hessenmetall emphasized the advantages of the high level of openness towards new digital technologies and the very good positioning in research when the study was presented on Thursday in Eppstein near Frankfurt.
Hessenmetall CEO Dirk Pollert called, among other things, for the faster expansion of the charging network, a better environment for digital business models and more and faster approvals for new greenfield factories. These offer the best conditions for realizing the necessary digital architectures.
According to IW, in 2020 the automotive industry in Hesse was responsible for sales of 20 billion euros, around 7.6 percent of gross value added. Around 241,000 people were employed along the value chain. In addition to industrial heavyweights such as VW, Opel, Daimler Truck and Hyundai, small and medium-sized companies in particular characterize the Hessian automotive industry.
More than half of the companies surveyed that manufacture conventional drive parts expect sales to shrink in the next three years. At the same time, around 90 percent stated that they wanted to open up new market areas during this period. The structural change is already in full swing.
