Electric car: Mercedes boss calls for job debate
The electric car seems to really worry the German industry. Mercedes boss Ola Kallenius explained that there should be a real reflection at European level on the potential pe...
09/03/2022
The electric car seems to really worry the German industry. The boss of Mercedes, Ola Kallenius, explained that there should be a real reflection at European level on the potential job losses that will induce the electric transition.
Will German manufacturers be able to maintain employment in the current decade, when the electrical transition threatens several hundred thousand jobs? Obviously, to hear Ola Kallenius, CEO of Daimler, nothing is less certain.
The Mercedes boss explained at the Financial Times car summit that there should be "an honest debate" about the jobs potentially threatened by the electrification of the car. And he is not wrong. In production, especially, manufacturers will have to redouble their inventiveness to keep everyone on board. With conversions, in particular, since electric cars have far fewer spare parts than a combustion engine vehicle, and therefore require much less manpower.
Already tense debates are taking place internally among the major German groups. At Volkswagen, in particular, the "Diess" method, very focused on the electric car since its BMW era and the development of the i3, has frequently come up against the more conservative positions of the personnel manager, the powerful Bernd Osterloh, who has moreover recently gave way. One highlights the electric revolution, and the other wanted to protect employees and not upset an industrial machine with gigantic inertia too quickly.