The Death of the Cash Cow

Thomas Kolbe | July 22, 2026

Looking at the global automotive market, one conclusion is unavoidable: the end of the combustion engine is nowhere in sight. The ideological crusade against Germany’s industrial backbone has merely led to the slaughter of the country’s automotive cash cows.

The reasons behind the decline of Germany’s automotive industry will remain subject to debate. But one thing is clear: an energy policy detached from economic reality, driven by climate-apocalyptic ambitions, has harmed the industry at least as much as strategic mistakes at the management level.

A lack of cost flexibility and a German labor system rooted in the moral foundations of the post-war economic boom have made the adjustments necessary in the face of fierce competition from China, the United States and increasingly India far more difficult.

German corporatism has also done companies a disservice by narrowing technological choices according to a familiar ideological compass. The end of the combustion engine is a collective product. Political leaders and institutional actors share the same conviction: pave the way with subsidies and taxpayer money toward a fully electric golden age.

Meanwhile, almost quietly and somewhat embarrassingly, the industry has begun relocating production of its traditional combustion-engine models abroad.

It is simply unhealthy for an economy to stand too close to the political fire. In times of crisis, companies are left exposed to the harsh winds of global competition -- and so are the workers whose jobs disappear by the hundreds of thousands.

The reality looks different from the political narrative. Around 95 percent of vehicles worldwide are........

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