Despite all the prophecies of doom and symptoms of crisis, the automotive industry is still the keystone of the German economy. And although the European Union has suffered a bitter defeat and is likely to reverse the ban on combustion engines, orders for German cars are collapsing in recent weeks.

This is also where the energy crisis created by Germany itself is playing out. The considerable gap that the phase-out of nuclear power has created, the uncertainty of gas supplies due to the sanctions regime against Russia - all of this is causing investors to steer clear of Germany as a business location these days.

In addition, the ECB's inflation regime has hit European consumers so hard that large purchases such as new cars are being put on hold for the time being in many cases.