I'm currently reading the book Kaput (The End of the German Miracle) and I have to say that Germany's problems run much deeper and reach into the "older" past. It took German carmakers a long time to start producing and selling electric vehicles, and by the time they began to focus on them they were being trounced by the Chinese, who have been making EVs for years and whose government investment in this sector can't be matched by European states. I'm very interested to see how this whole situation will play out, since the German — and I'd say the European — industry depends on the automotive sector.