“We didn't think that China would catch up so quickly,”

Says a leading group manager from the automotive sector when asked why they were surprised by the collapse of the Chinese sales market in this country.
German car companies lost 30 percent of their net profits and also had to cut thousands of jobs. A misjudgement resulted in a veritable crisis. Added up with the procrastination of e-mobility, software problems and a standstill in innovation, the crisis mutated into a structural meltdown. In the world's largest growth market for mobility, the former German export hit accounts for just 5 percent of the market volume. For the automotive sector, it is about nothing less than survival.

Yet we experienced such a meltdown 15 years ago. Within five years, the entire solar industry eroded and was virtually non-existent by the end. Here, too, we underestimated the innovative strength and speed of Chinese companies, which flooded the European market with their cheaper solar modules. As with e-mobility, the Federal Government previously abolished funding (feed-in tariff), and the European Union tried to stop the market glut through trade barriers.

The smoke over the decline of the solar industry had not yet cleared, and the next storm was brewing in 2015, which was once again due to the fact that we could not keep up with the speed. The diesel scandal revealed that automotive companies were technologically unable to comply with laws and requirements for decarbonization. Instead of expecting buyers to incur additional costs and expenses, they decided to install a “defeat device.” With fines, damages and legal fees of 32 billion euros: the most expensive component ever integrated into vehicles in history.

We are currently in an all-important race again, in which speed in particular will be decisive.

This time, it is not only China that is the challenger, but also Silicon Valley. His mantra “Move fast and break things” is no coincidence. The knowledge of speed in scaling technological innovations is an essential part of the DNA of American tech companies. As history tells us, we Europeans have problems with speed. Artificial intelligence is a game-changing technology. Both China and the USA have already laid the foundations to win the race: Money. Strategy. talent.
200 billion dollars were invested in AI in the USA in 2022/2023. Both tech companies and US companies have a clear strategy for the use and perspective of artificial intelligence. 70 percent of American companies use AI and plan to expand this use.
Europe invested 6 billion euros in the same period. And according to a McKinsey study, only 20 percent of European companies have an AI strategy.
The European flagship startup for AI, MistraLai, has opened an office in Silicon Valley to attract talent to Europe. However, this will only be successful if sufficient investments are available and a pan-European effort is made quickly to expand the necessary infrastructure. In addition, companies in particular must significantly increase the speed of implementing, expanding and using AI.

With the advent of Trumpism, the pace of changing world events has reached a new dimension.

Threatening gestures, annexation fantasies, tariffs, Russia sidekick, decrees — it almost seems as though Trump and Musk's spin doctors have identified the lack of speed and adaptability in Europe as our key weak point. And maybe they're not all that wrong about that.

In order to be able to build resilience in the long term — which should not be translated as resilience, but with the ability to continuously adapt to change — we first and foremost need to become faster. This requires companies to have a higher tolerance for errors, streamlining structures, more personal responsibility and a willingness to change corporate cultures.

Editors: Thomas Satori | Mathias Keswani

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