Germany has been permanently in the first position in car exports in the world for at least the last two decades.
To gauge its superiority: while its foreign automobile sales totaled 139.132 million dollars in 2021, those corresponding to the world’s second largest exporter, Japan, were 85.590 million dollars, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Before Germany registered a 13% year-on-year growth in this indicator in 2021, its performance was negative, with falls in 2018 (-1%), 2019 (-7%) and 2020 (-4 percent).
In general, according to Germany Trade & Investment, the export industry is an important pillar of the German economy.
Its decline in international commodity trade in the wake of the financial crisis was quickly overcome, with its exports in 2021 reaching a record $1.6 trillion.
Germany is the third largest exporting country in the world, after China and the United States.
Products made in Germany from the chemical, automotive, and machinery and equipment industries are in particularly high demand worldwide.
Exports
But specifically in foreign car sales, Germany has still not been able to overcome its historical maximum registered in 2014, of 160,315 million dollars.
Cars are shipped from Germany to virtually the entire world, especially China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
Germany Trade & Investment highlights that 10% of manufacturing companies in Europe are German. They generate more than 30% of the gross added value of the European Union in the manufacturing sector alone.
In fact, they account for more than a fifth of all German value added, one of the highest shares in Europe.
One additional fact: exports are driven by Germany’s backbone of highly innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
These constitute 99.3% of all companies employing 55% of all employees in Germany.
Many of these SMEs are global market leaders in their respective niche segments. Together with leading international companies such as Bayer, BASF, Daimler, Volkswagen and Siemens, to name just a few, they make up Germany’s manufacturing industrial base.
