Düsseldorf Peter Mertens knows something about the car industry. For 35 years, the qualified mechanical engineer held leading positions in large car companies. He was head of technology at Audi until 2018, when his second cancer stopped him.
In the meantime, the engineer with a doctorate has recovered from his difficult illness and, in his new book “Aufstieg aus der Blechliga”, looks at an automotive industry that is undergoing an incomparable transformation.
Mertens sees the established German car manufacturers Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler as the challengers. Above all against Tesla, but also against new car companies from China, the old car manufacturers would have to assert themselves.
In the introduction to the book, Mertens writes that he changed his thesis in the course of the development process between December 2020 and May 2021. He revised his original assessment of “It’s going to be bloody”. Instead, he now concludes: “The Empire strikes back.”
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However, the situation has changed somewhat since May 2021. Especially at Volkswagen, things are currently stagnating again. CEO Herbert Diess was once again under fire. The works council and the state of Lower Saxony are dissatisfied, VW’s overall strategy is faltering and the electric models from the ID series are not arriving in China.
German car industry with a good plan
To make matters worse, the carmaker is also lagging behind with its software projects. According to Daniela Cavallo, head of the VW works council, the project by the Cariad software unit to develop a cross-brand car operating system has not yet gained momentum.
Mertens continues to be excellently wired in the automotive industry. Today he invests in start-ups. Among other things, he is involved in the chip designer Recogni, in which the two suppliers Bosch and Continental have also invested. Mertens is confident because the overall strategy of the German car manufacturers is now right. He sees them on the right path, especially in battery cell production.
In his book, he refers, among other things, to estimates by the Fraunhofer Institute, according to which higher battery production capacities will be built in Europe by 2030 than in Asia. So far, car manufacturers have been completely dependent on battery companies such as CATL or LG Chem when building electric cars.
The former auto executive also debunks unkillable myths, such as that there isn’t enough electricity for electric cars. Or that electric cars would emit more CO2 than combustion vehicles. Both are well-cited by combustion engine stakeholders, and they’re just plain wrong. Mertens counters these allegations with studies by research institutes.
Peter Mertens: Rise from the sheet metal league. This is how our car industry has a future.
Campus Publisher
Frankfurt 2021
231 pages
27,95 Euro
In doing so, he tries not to glorify, neither electromobility nor the new software efforts of car manufacturers. Mertens strives for a realistic perspective. His core thesis on the state of the traditional automotive industry is made particularly clear in one sentence on page 121: “Our industry is ahead of the curve very early on, suddenly suffers from self-doubt, withdraws from the growth market too early and only then emerges from the doldrums again up when the train has left.”
Mertens describes very aptly what the German car industry is currently suffering from. A clear and balanced line runs through the former car manager’s book, without over-praising his former employers.
He presents his very personal view at the end of the book: “For the future of my personal mobility, I would like the freedom to decide in which sections of the route I let myself be driven, where I ride with others and when I drive myself. I want mobility that is sustainable, safe and socially acceptable. And I think it can be done.”
However, these personal impressions appear too seldom in the book. Unfortunately, it therefore offers only a few unknown and exclusive insights. Instead, Mertens often referred to specialist articles when doing research. That’s not wrong. But in some places the book seems like a summary of existing information. Anyone who deals extensively with the car industry will therefore find little that is new in Mertens’ book.
Rather, the book should be aimed at drivers who want to get an overview of all the transformation strands in the automotive industry.
More: Read what’s coming: These book highlights await us in the first half of the year