Automotive Industry and Electric Mobility made in Germany | © Gorodenkoff Productions OU - stock.adobe.com

Automotive Industry in Germany

The German automotive industry is playing a pivotal role in the global transition to electric mobility solutions.

Germany is recognized the world over for its outstanding automotive industry and excellence in engineering. From Asia to the Americas, German cars embody highly cherished values of innovation, reliability, safety, and design. Germany is by some distance Europe’s leading production and sales market. The country’s world-class R&D infrastructure, complete industry value chain integration, and highly qualified workforce create an internationally peerless automotive environment. It enables companies to develop cutting- edge technologies, which perfectly address tomorrow’s mobility needs. Interested in expanding your business to Germany?

Check out our automotive industry figures and find out why, more than 130 years after inventing the automobile, Germany, is heading for a new approach to shape transportation solutions for the future. Find out more down below about Germany’s Electric Automotive and Mobility Sector:

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Tesla Reshapes Automotive Industry with German Gigafactory
Publications: Germany's Automotive Industry and Future Mobility
Automotive Industry & Market Numbers

Tesla Reshapes Automotive Industry with German Gigafactory

Elon Musk was present in person to hand over the keys to customers who had preordered one of Tesla’s first German-made model Y vehicles, as the US automotive giant inaugurated its first European gigafactory in Brandenburg near Berlin.

Attending the ceremony on March 22, 2022 were German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck. Scholz underscored the importance of the project, which has injected jobs, money and a huge amount of future potential into an area of Germany not previously known for the automotive industry.

“Germany’s east is also leading the way in terms of industry. Electromobility will be the mobility of the future.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

“Danke Deutschland,” tweeted the iconic and iconoclastic Musk.

The gigafactory, which is located near the town of Grünheide, is Europe’s largest electric vehicle production facility and will employ as many as 12,000 people. It has already attracted German and international automotive suppliers to the region and represented at the time the biggest foreign direct investment in eastern Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Tesla chose its new location for a variety of reasons: access to Europe’s largest economy, Germany’s skilled labor force, excellent regional infrastructure, the stability of the German legal and economic framework, and support from national and regional authorities.

Journalists and industry leaders and observers celebrated the opening as a major milestone and another example of the German automotive industry continuing to expand out from its tradition strongholds in the south, Saxony and Wolfsburg.

„The day is finally at hand – Tesla’s newest gigafactory is now officially open,” said Germany Trade & Invest automotive expert Stefan Di Bitonto. “It’s a fantastic moment for the Berlin-Brandenburg region and for Tesla customers.”

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Publications: Germany's Automotive Industry and Future Mobility

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The Automotive Industry in Germany | © GTAI

The Automotive Industry in Germany

Germany is Europe’s number one automotive market in production and sales terms and the most innovative in international comparison.

Find out more and download our latest industry overview "The Automotive Industry in Germany" free of charge:

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The Automotive Industry in Germany
Issue 2022/2023
(PDF; 3.6 MB)

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Future Mobility in Germany

Germany’s world-leading automotive industry is a driving force in the transformation to the smart and sustainable mobility of the future.

Find out more and download our latest fact sheet "Future Mobility in Germany" free of charge:

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Future Mobility in Germany
Issue 2022/2023
(PDF; 1.5 MB)

Automotive Industry & Market Numbers

The automotive industry is the largest industry in Germany and the European leader. The sector’s proven record of accomplishment and commitment to new mobility technologies make it the world’s auto innovation hub.

The automotive industry is the largest industry sector in Germany. In 2021, the auto sector listed turnover of EUR 410.9 billion – around 20 percent of total German industry revenue.
Germany is Europe’s number one automotive market, accounting for around 25 percent of all passenger cars manufactured (3.1 million) and approximately 20 percent of all new car registrations (2.6 million).
One in every five cars worldwide carries a German brand.
Germany is home to 44 automobile assembly and engine production plants with a capacity of over one third of total automobile production in Europe.
In 2021, Germany‘s domestic internal automotive industry R&D expenditure rose to EUR 28.25 billion – equivalent to 35 percent of total R&D expenditure in Germany.
Fifteen of the world’s top 75 automotive suppliers are German companies.*
Almost 77 percent of cars produced in Germany in 2021 were ultimately destined for international markets – a new record.
More than 40 percent of patent registrations in Germany originate from the automotive industry.
Around 786.100 are employed in the industry as a whole in 2021.