#germany-dominance

#germany-dominance

Renault plans to reduce its number of engineers by 15 to 20% in the coming two years, meaning up to 2,400 of the current 11,000 to 12,000 engineers worldwide would have to leave the company.

Stegra has agreed in principle on €1.4 billion in new financing to complete the construction of what would be the world's first large-scale green steel plant, located in Boden in northern Sweden.

In a lab on the western edge of Paris, a technician called Remi makes some adjustments with a spanner to a cryostat, a device that cools to minus 273 degrees Celsius, where even the tiniest particles are still.

The German economy's post-pandemic rebound has lagged behind other E.U. countries, and that stagnation has also been reflected in its art market.

The trial, which began in Munich in February, sees two former Development Board chairs and two leading engineers facing charges for their alleged role in the massive environmental and business scandal that first made global headlines over a decade ago.

Airlines in Europe are bracing for fuel supply shocks caused by the war in the Middle East. The severity of the impacts on passengers will be determined in the coming days and weeks depending on whether a recently announced ceasefire between the United States and Iran holds.

The IAA covers several key sectors, including steel, cement, aluminum, cars and innovative technologies, such as batteries, solar, wind and nuclear. The new rules would set a minimum requirement for projects using public funds. For example, aluminum sector projects would require 25% of the aluminum to be produced in the EU and with low-carbon technologies. For cement, the equivalent rate would be 5%.

Berlin's newly announced program, reported on by various outlets, grants buyers of new electrified vehicles between $1,700 and $7,000. This figure depends on several factors, including the powertrain of the vehicle and income level of the buyer, but is meant to help revive stagnant sales one of Germany's key industries. Photo by: Scout Motors For the first time EREVsvehicles where batteries power the wheels and are recharged by a small combustion enginewill explicitly be eligible under the new program.

Given the daunting nature of the challenges they face in the era of Donald Trump, it is perhaps understandable that European politicians should wish to get away from it all. This week, in what is being billed as a leaders' retreat, a remote castle in the Belgian countryside has been selected for an EU summit on competitiveness. The pastoral setting may soothe the spirits of attending heads of state; but it belies the urgency of the debate they need to have.

"In the era of great powers, our freedom is no longer a given. It is under threat," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the opening of the Munich Security Conference earlier in February. Merz explicitly mentioned China. "China has the ambition to shape global affairs, laying the foundations for this over many years with strategic patience. In the foreseeable future, Beijing could draw level with the US in terms of military might. China is systematically exploiting the dependencies of others, reinterpreting the international order on its own terms," he said.

In 2025, German car companies earned nearly 44% less than in 2024, with earnings before interest and taxes dropping to just 24.9 billion, the lowest since 2020.

More than three-quarters of Germans reject the idea of buying an electric car from the US manufacturer Tesla, according to a recent survey by the German Economic Institute (IW). Some 60% of respondents said buying a Tesla was "completely out of the question," while another 16% said they would "probably not" purchase a car from US tech billionaire Elon Musk's company, which saw sales fall by 13% worldwide in the first quarter of 2025, by 45% in Europe, and by 62% in Germany.

MAN Truck & Bus SE has formalized a long-term restructuring and investment framework with its works council and IG Metall, positioning the manufacturer for what it describes as sustained competitiveness amid structural shifts in the commercial vehicle industry. The agreement, laid out in a jointly adopted key issues paper, defines the industrial, financial and workforce parameters of the "MAN2030+" program.