OEM&Lieferant Ausgabe 1/2018

91 Reading the official statistics of the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, one could get the impression that times for the German automotive and supplier industry could not be better. A growth of 7.5 per cent in February 2018 compared to the same month of the previous year seems to send a clear message. Even the export markets, which are so important for our industry, are developing more than expected. However, if we look a little deeper into the registration statis- tics, the not so surprising significant decline of almost 20 per cent in diesel vehicles catches the eye - and this is before the publication of the Federal Administrative Court‘s decision on the admissibility of municipal driving restrictions. Once again, the market seems to be reacting much faster than politics and administration, who are only just starting to discuss how to deal with the situation. In Germany at least, a further diesel reduction can surely be expected and this poses considerable structural problems for both OEMs and suppliers. Although the whole world is discussing all facets of electric mobility, new registrations of electric vehicles remain modest. With 2,546 units, electric passenger cars account for just one per cent of all new registrations. Things look somewhat better for the hybrids with 8,289 new registrations amounting to a share of 3.2 per cent. Nevertheless, in both vehicle categories, the number of new registrations has increased significantly by more than 60 per cent, compared to the same month of the previous year. The trend seems to agree, although Germany, as the largest European passenger car market, lags behind other markets. Just as a reminder: even if the proportion of electric vehicles in Norway and the Netherlands is significantly higher than in Germany, the pressure for the further development of electric mobility comes from the Far East. In China, more than 200,000 electric vehicles are newly registered each year, and the number of vehicle registrations is tripled every year. This makes it clear that the Asian markets will continue to be a major growth engine in our automotive and supplier industries. Against this background, it is no wonder that topics connected to the development of electric mobility are again a focus in our latest edition of OEM&Supplier. Almost every contribution in some way touches on the great challenges faced by the auto- motive and supplier industry. The mega topics autonomous dri- ving, connectivity, digitisation and electric drive can be found in almost all contributions. And this is a good sign because it demonstrates how well the German automotive and supplier industry is positioned to over- come these enormous challenges and, above all, to influence and shape them. We at OEM&Supplier look forward to providing a forum in which the German industry and its service partners can pre- sent and showcase their latest developments, technologies, innovations and products - and not only in tried and tested print format, but also cross-media. Dear Readers, this opens up much more background and con- textual information, via the interactions, links and the networ- king to web contents and the social media, than is possible in the print edition. We hope you enjoy reading and networking. We would like to thank all authors, interview partners and advertisers for their cooperation and cordially invite you to contribute to the suc- cess of the magazine with contributions, interviews and adver- tisements for the next issue, which will be published in autumn 2018. Welcome address by Dr. Rudolf Müller Dear Readers,