High cost pressure

BMW

Steyr is home to BMW's largest engine plant. 4900 employees work here.

(Bild: CHRISTIAN BRUNA)

The high cost pressure is causing more and more companies in the automotive industry to skid - which in turn also has consequences for the BMW engine plant in Steyr (Upper Austria). Despite a successful track record in 2024, Managing Director Klaus von Moltke therefore sees an urgent need for action and is alarmed.

Turnover: 4.4 billion euros, an increase compared to 2024; engines produced: 1.187 million units; investment sum: 562 million euros, the majority of which went into the new e-engine production; number of employees: increased from 4700 to 4900 - these are the facts and figures presented by BMW Steyr CEO Klaus von Moltke on Monday. "We did indeed have a successful year in Steyr in 2024," said the Managing Director of the German premium vehicle manufacturer's largest engine plant. However, this is not a peace of mind. Klaus von Moltke spoke to the "Krone" about ...

• The start of e-engine production in Steyr: 
  "Pre-series production began in the fall of 2024. We are confident that we will be able to deliver the drive units for the ramp-up of the new class on time and in the required quality this year."

• The growing workforce: 
  "This is also due to the fact that we now have a stable volume in the combustion engine world and still need to position ourselves for e-mobility. For us, the focus is on maintaining this continuously in the coming years. It's not as if the signs here are pointing to extreme growth."

• The success factors for the future: 
  "The advantage we have now is that we have installed a robust system for the entry into e-mobility, but in turn, yes, we still have a stable combustion engine production volume. We now know that we can deliver whatever the market wants. This approach of being open to technology definitely gives us security for the coming years - both in the area of development and in production at the site."

BMW Steyr Managing Director Klaus von Moltke

(Bild: BMW Group Austria/APA-Fotoservice/Juhasz)

• New projects: 
  "We are continuing to work on the development of combustion engines with regard to the whole issue of efficiency, Euro7, compatibility of alternative fuels such as HVO100. But we also want to make further leaps in the direction of e-mobility. And we are also actively promoting the topic of hydrogen fuel cells in order to take over the development activities there and enter into the industrialization of the technology. We want to remain the largest drive system location within the BMW Group." 

• The battle for increased efficiency and high cost discipline: 
  "We have traditionally always been very strong in these areas in Steyr. Digitalization plays a key role here. We look at which activities can be automated or which non-value-adding activities can be avoided. We have rolled out many, many projects at the site that have helped us achieve leaps in efficiency. And we will continue to do so on an ongoing basis. It is also necessary in order to compensate for certain cost effects that we cannot influence directly."

• The difficult situation at many companies: 
  "All the cost effects caused by energy, wage costs, collective bargaining agreement results and issues like that are having a massive impact. The large number of insolvencies and supply bottlenecks at suppliers, but also quality issues, which then also keep us busy with increased costs - these are the issues that worry me the most. The automotive supply industry is really under pressure. If we look at the vehicle industry as an entire organism, we see that individual organs are failing. These are alarm signals and we definitely need to take action."

• His response to the growing challenges in the industry: 
  "We need to enter into discussions with the partners in the collective bargaining negotiations at an early stage and play a more active role. We need constructive discussions. If you prepare for such a process at an early stage, you can avoid it ending in unnecessary escalation, but rather with an outcome that gets us past the critical phase we are in. This cannot be delegated to politicians. I very much see the responsibility as lying with those sitting at the negotiating table. I believe that we simply have to take responsibility - for ourselves as a company, for our workforce and, of course, for Austria as an industrial location."