26.10.2009 Berlin – According to European managers, Germany is the leading business location for the automotive industry. Germany claims this position despite the economic crisis, as a new study by the auditing and consulting firm Ernst & Young shows. The "European Automotive Survey 2009" is based on assessments by managers of 300 European companies active in the automotive industry.

Decision makers participating in the survey indicated that Germany is the most competitive and stable business environment for the automotive industry worldwide. Germany was ranked above both Japan and China. While 58 percent of those surveyed rated Germany’s competitiveness in this key industry as high or very high, this indicator fell to 53 percent for Japan and 52 percent for China.

Germany fared equally well in terms of industry stability: 52 percent of those surveyed see the German industry as very stable. The corresponding figures for Japan and China trail significantly, coming in at 42 percent and 40 percent respectively. The countries of eastern Europe ranked much further behind. Only 28 percent of managers found the automotive industries of Slovakia and the Czech Republic to be competitive. With this result, these two countries fared better than all other eastern European countries.
According to Ernst & Young, the results of the survey represent the level of trust that managers have in the automotive industry in Germany. One clearly assumes, according to Peter Fuß, Partner at Ernst & Young, that the industry will successfully manage the crisis: "There is a high level of trust in German companies from abroad to overcome the downturn, to navigate through the crisis with relative stability, and to find the right answers to the major challenges facing the industry."

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