Handelsblatt Auto Summit 2021
Stuttgart Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess usually doesn’t mince his words. He has set himself the task of leading Europe’s largest car company through the transformation into electromobility. He provokes the workforce with the productivity comparison with Tesla. He is making mental games about cutting up to 30,000 jobs public without consulting the new works council boss Daniela Cavallo.
In fact, VW is facing the trickiest challenge in the company’s history – at the latest when the Asian carmakers flood the European market with their electric cars in the lower price segment in the coming years. The future of Volkswagen also determines the fate of hundreds of suppliers. At the Handelsblatt Auto Summit 2021, VW boss Diess will answer the most pressing questions in the industry today, Wednesday.
And even the premium manufacturers BMW and Daimler cannot rest despite their recent substantial profits. So far they have been able to master the chip crisis comparatively well. Their profits rose because they made a virtue out of necessity and built the existing chips into the large, high-margin models. In this way, the falling sales figures were at least partially offset. BMW boss Oliver Zipse, Daimler CEO Ola Källenius and Porsche boss Oliver Blume give insights into how things are going strategically. And they answer questions from Handelsblatt editor-in-chief Sebastian Matthes.
In view of the ever stricter CO2 targets, the entire industry wants and must place sustainability at the center of its considerations. IBM expert Daniel Knödler presents the latest technologies that can support sustainability in the automotive industry.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
New challengers from the German auto industry show how quickly they switch in the current situation: guests are Hui Zhang, Vice President Europe of the Chinese electric newcomer Nio, Michael Lohscheller from the Vietnamese start-up Vinfast and Jona Christians from the Munich stock exchange aspirant Sono Motors.
Further ideas with a wow factor come from the founders of uRyde, ME Energy and Vision E. The urban traffic turnaround, new customer needs and new mobility concepts are just as much in focus as Christian Bertermann, CEO of the now listed used car dealer Auto1.
There is also a lot to discuss on the second day of the Handelsblatt Auto Summit 2021. The complete program of the conference can be found here.