Europe’s largest economy is slipping into stagnation, and a weakening political system is struggling to find a way out.
Germany’s industrial output and gross domestic product have been stagnant since 2018.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Germany will be the only major economy in the world to shrink in 2023, with even sanctioned Russia experiencing growth.
Just a few years ago, executives at German automakers laughed at Chinese ambitions such as “Made in China 2025.” Now they are no longer laughing.
German auto suppliers, partly because of an unwillingness to change, have suffered a loss of global market share since 2019 as large as their profits over the previous two decades.