MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Germany's automotive industry is slowly emerging from its mood slump. In February, the business climate index for the sector, compiled by the Ifo Institute, rose by 3.5 points, according to the Munich-based economic researchers. Although, even after the third consecutive increase, the index remains in negative territory at minus 15.6 points. However, just over a year ago, in January 2025, the situation looked much worse at minus 40 points.
The current increase is due to an improvement in the assessment of the present situation. By contrast, expectations for the future have declined slightly.
"Demand from the EU area—especially for electric vehicles—continues to act as a stabilizing force for the German automotive industry," explains Ifo sector expert Anita Wölfl. The number of passenger cars registered in Germany with purely electric drive (BEV) surpassed the two-million mark for the first time as of January 1, 2026.
According to Ifo, revenues from German exports of electric vehicles are also rising. With more than 40 billion euros, there was an increase of 6.5 percent in this segment. More than half of these exports went to the EU, led by the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Denmark. Accordingly, export expectations also rose—from plus 8.5 to 10.8 points./ruc/DP/zb
