98 Transformation in the automotive industry - vision and challenge By Armin Gehl, Managing Director autoregion e. V., Saarbrücken The autoregion e. V. is an independently operating, complementary body to the existing automotive networks of the Greater Region, which work decentralized in their regions of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Luxembourg. In his contribution, Armin Gehl draws a thread through the history of the development of the automotive industry during the last few years up to the present day, which overall can be seen as a permanent transformation process characterised by change. lf one searches for the meaning of a term not - as is usual today- on Google, but in the 19th edition of the BROCKHAUS Encyclopaedia from 1993, one finds there under the keyword "transformation" the educational explanation "reshaping, transformation" and the definition according to which transformation is the "fundamental reshaping" of an "economic, political and social system". And indeed, it does not seem to be a new phenomenon of the internet age if the encyclopaedic authors of the late last millennium, thinking and writing in analogue dimensions, were able to provide a description and explanation that was quite appropriate for the current situation of the global automotive industry. Looking at the development of the international automotive industry over the last 50 years, one has to conclude that the only constants in development have been transformation, reshaping or conversion and the reaction to new, previously unknown challenges. The 1973 oil crisis with its driving bans, speed limits and significantly increased petrol prices had fatal economic consequences that were reflected in almost all economic indicators and caused turbulence in the industry worldwide. The Japanese OEMs were able to take advantage of this, shaking up the global automobile market- above all the US market- and redistributing the cards. But at the same time, awareness of the finite nature of natural resources grew. The focus was no langer on unrestrained growth with ever larger and more powerful drive units. Saving was the order of the day and new engines with significantly improved economic performance data were developed through technical innovations. Car bodies formed in the wind tunnel not only created a new, creative automotive design, but also contributed to lower fuel consumption. The globalisation of markets, which began with vehemence in the mid-1980s, posed an enormous challenge. lt is true that the German automotive industry had already been Armin Gehl, Managing Director of the association autoregion e. V. on the move worldwide with its exports. Local industrialisation with increasing local content, especially of commercial vehicles in South America, Asia and Africa, had also given the industry its first experience in setting up international supply chains. But the global opening of markets and the parallel development of a worldwide logistics system created a whole new dimension of international division of labour. In the last 15 to 20 years, the development of China into the world's largest automobile market - ahead of the USA and Europe - taught us that this was still to be surpassed, and that the German automotive industry had no small share in these events and was also able to profit from them to a considerable extent. The automotive industry has been able to respond to all these challenges with its innovative capacity and develop new products, systems and processes that have taken account of the changed framework conditions. Even though the end of the auto-
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