Press Statement Mobility Summit: We need more momentum

Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall: “The high-level talks have shown that we cannot afford any further delays. We must channel all resources into the transition to electric powertrains. We cannot allow investments and skilled workers to be misdirected by the incomprehensible requirements of a Euro 7 regulation for internal combustion engines.

To get more electric vehicles on the road, we urgently need far more public fast-charging stations, an expanded power grid, and more renewable energy. We expect the federal government to provide more support beyond the boom regions and to establish manageable legal frameworks for this expansion. The expansion of the charging infrastructure is lagging dramatically behind the federal government’s own targets. If Germany wants to become a leading market for electric mobility, much greater momentum must be generated here. The market alone will not achieve this.

We need a transformation of the industry featuring resilient supply chains, domestically produced semiconductors, and battery cell factories, as well as a strategic reorientation of automakers toward mobility service providers. This includes the domestic mechanical engineering sector and its process expertise. Businesses and workers must not be left behind. The transformation of this closely interlinked automotive value chain—which is also shaped by small and medium-sized enterprises—requires new ideas in industrial and labor market policy.

280,000 workers depend on the internal combustion engine and expect prospects for the future. They want to be part of tomorrow’s innovations and products, and to do so, they need the social tools: qualifications and social security.”