Automotive Industry
World-cass vehicles, innovative technologies, smart solutions for mobility – Baden-Württemberg is an international top-location of the automotive industry.
Baden-Württemberg is the birthplace of the car and, as a manufacturing location, has an excellent reputation in the global automotive industry. Baden-Württemberg accounts for one in four jobs in the German automotive sector as a whole. With about 214,000 employees in 2021, the sector is not only the second largest industrial employer in the southwest but also the industry with the highest annual turnover (115.4 billion euros in 2021). Around a third of the German turnover in the automotive industry is generated in Baden-Württemberg.
Over 71 percent of the turnover of the roundabout 300 companies directly involved in automotive manufacturing is achieved in export business. Hardly any other industry is so strongly oriented to exports. The industry is one of the most innovative in the state und invests over 13 billion euros a year in the research and development (R&D) of new technologies. This is half of the total R&D expenditure invested by Baden-Württemberg's industry. Morevoer, as the centre of the German automotive industry, Baden-Württemberg is home to over 1,000 parts suppliers.
As the land of the automobile, the state of Baden-Württemberg is characterised by a tightly meshed network of vehicle manufacturers and a strong parts-supply industry with mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as by production equippers, servide providers, universities and research institutions, all of wich specialise in this particular industry. This interlocking networked structure, which facilitates cooperation, is one of the building block on which the southwest's success as a manufacturing location is based on.
Through the state, there are more than 25 clusters and networks that activley promote innovation and bundle diverse synergies, thus strengthening the international competitivness of the automotive industry here. With global players such as Daimler, Porsche and Bosch, the Stuttgart region is by far the most important automotive cluster within Europe.
Exemplary industry institutions:
With more than 70 universities and over 100 non-university research institutions, Baden-Württemberg is one of the top science locations in Germany. Teaching and research are conducted on the very highest level in the southwest, a situation from which the automotive industry also profits.
Numerous courses of study in the area of mobility such as technical design, process engineering, vehicle technology and automotive information technology ensure a constant supply of new young qualified engineers.
Moreover, a large number of excellent research institutions in the state focus on vehicle construction, and sustainable mobility and transport, whereby their basic research contributes to the development of applications. This ensures that the industry leads the field when it comes to innovations in this sector. This intensive cooperation between science and industry is one of the central factors for success of the Baden-Württemberg automotive industry.
For further information, refer to www.studieninfo-bw.de, www.bw-studyguide.de and www.bw-career.de.
Mobility is a fundamental prerequisite for the way we live today and is directly linked to energy supply, environmental protection and the nature of our society. In Baden-Württemberg, players from the areas of industry, science and research are working actively on the automobile of the future and on intelligent transport solutions that will change our lives.
Due to its gradually grown structures, its special entrepreneurial landscape and its excellent research and highereducation institutions, Baden-Württemberg is an important location for development and production when it comes to innovative mobility technologies. Collaboration between different sectors and across diverse areas of technology enables partners from industry, science and research to push forward the industrialisation of electro-mobility and of hydrogen and fuel-cell technology. The intelligent networking of vehicles and their environment as well as the increasing automation of the car play a special role in this regard. Internationally outstanding demo projects show the potential of these technologies in Baden-Württemberg and are facilitating the development of innovative business models.
Exemplary industry institutions:
World-class vehicles, innovative technologies, intelligent mobility solutions – Baden-Württemberg is a leading location of the global automotive industry. Find more information about the automotive industry in Baden-Württemberg here.