Europe’s automobile trade too reliant on different areas, says Bosch chairman

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Europe’s automotive sector has change into too reliant on Asia and different areas for important elements reminiscent of semiconductors and battery cells, Bosch’s outgoing chairman instructed a German newspaper.

Automotive Chips and battery cells have change into the 2 most necessary elements within the age of electrical and autonomous automobiles, forcing European carmakers to depend on Asian suppliers as native trade has been gradual to construct capability shut by.

“Sure, we now have change into too depending on different areas, and a change after all is required,” Bosch’s Supervisory Board Chairman Franz Fehrenbach, who steps down on the finish of the yr, instructed Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“Nevertheless, this isn’t the fault of politics, however is said to price optimisation within the provide chain,” he mentioned. “The automobile trade is slowly asking itself how uncooked materials provide will appear to be, significantly for battery cells.”

German corporations have outlined plans to claw again management, together with Volkswagen which plans to construct six giant battery cell factories with companions in Europe by 2030.

A world scarcity of automotive chips has highlighted the issue, inflicting the European Union to launch subsidy programmes to draw chipmakers to the continent.

Bosch, the world’s largest automotive provider, opened a 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) chip plant in Germany this yr, its biggest-ever funding, because it stakes a declare to equipping the most recent electrical and self-driving automobiles.

($1 = 0.8841 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Enhancing by Edmund Blair)