Why the wave of bankruptcies fails among suppliers

Dusseldorf In the spring there was once again an alarm mood among German automotive suppliers: industry representatives and experts warned that the pressure for insolvency was increasing again, especially among small and medium-sized suppliers. In fact, even then, rising raw material prices, raging inflation and the impending gas shortage were weighing heavily on the industry.

However, now that the half-year reports have been presented, there are indications that the warnings were probably exaggerated. In any case, hardly any of the listed suppliers saw the need to cut their annual targets – despite the continuing high level of uncertainty about gas supplies and energy prices.

Continental published its quarterly figures even earlier in a mandatory notification because sales in the past three months have been higher than expected. Despite increased raw material and logistics costs, the profit is within the target corridor. ZF is even expecting record sales of over 40 billion euros for the first time in the current year. At Elring-Klinger, sales jumped by a quarter in the first half of the year.