Barleben/Haldensleben (dpa/sa) - The planned ban on cars with combustion engines also poses major challenges for industry in Saxony-Anhalt. The region would already be affected by a combustion engine shutdown in 2035, said Stefan Schünemann, cluster spokesman for the Mahreg Automotive network. Because in addition to drive components for combustion engines, machines and tools for manufacturing the components are also produced in Saxony-Anhalt. But change also offers opportunities. "We have companies that still manufacture for the combustion engine and are on the way towards components for electromobility."
For example at Saxony-Anhalt's largest automotive supplier Ifa. At the Haldensleben plant, he has been manufacturing propshafts for rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles with combustion engines for decades. A spokeswoman admitted that the production site there will definitely be affected by the end of combustion engines from 2035 onwards. The company now relies more on sideshafts that are independent of the drive type. So one hopes to create a seamless transition.
Cluster spokesman Schünemann hopes that the companies will be more flexible. The relatively small-scale economy has already shown itself to be flexible. "Now we have to activate this flexibility more again."
The EU wants to ban new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars from 2035 and only allow fully electric cars. It is still unclear whether engines powered by artificial eco-fuel can remain on the road. The EU Commission should now analyze this.
From the point of view of IG Metall, politics is now required. According to Thorsten Gröger, district manager of IG Metall Lower Saxony-Saxony-Anhalt, the decision to pull the plug on the combustion engine also goes hand in hand with the self-commitment to create the political framework conditions so that electromobility becomes a model for success. "Added value must not be lost, but the restructuring of the industry must be politically wisely supported and financially underpinned."
