Germany racked up one economic success after another for most of this century. But the loss of Russian natural gas due to the war in Ukraine has dealt a severe blow to its industry through higher energy costs.

For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports.

Jobs were plentiful, the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany.

No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and European Union expecting it to shrink this year.

  • mean_bean279@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    Well if Mercedes and BMW could stop making electric cars as ugly as humanly possible we would quickly see them take that market back. Lucid makes an INCREDIBLY gorgeous car and if I was in the market for an 80k plus dollar EV it would certainly be that over the ugly EQS sedan and the i7 EV with its buck teeth. The German automakers are stuck in a loop right now and I hope they’ll soon get out. As for Germany’s other economic sectors; much like the rest of the world everyone is still recovering from Covid economy shock. Especially when we went from producing nothing for 1-6 months, then slowly starting, then ramping up like crazy and now coming back down to reality. It’s going to be a rough couple years of Capitalism having to learn that businesses and economies staying flat isn’t a bad thing. No progress, but no loss either. Germany isn’t alone in this.

    • Gsus4@feddit.nlEnglish
      0·
      10 months ago

      Ugly? Why do people fetishize their cars? I want it to work efficiently, be safe and cheap to maintain…if it looks like a gherkin, so be it 😄 The problem with German electric cars is not that, it’s that atm they can’t compete with China in price and they have no tech edge in supply chains anymore. Also, newer generations in Europe aren’t as obsessed with owning a car anymore (I think).