Volkswagen weighs up impact of Trump tariffs, Schufa sets out plans for more credit score transparency, CSU and SPD leaders defend coalition prospects, and more news from Germany on Friday.
Volkswagen weighs up impact of Trump tariffs on US sales
Volkswagen said Thursday it was examining the impact of new US tariffs on foreign cars after the German auto giant was reported to be planning price hikes to offset higher import charges.
Asked about the reports, a Volkswagen spokesman told AFP that the carmaker was assessing its options.
“We have our dealers’ and customers’ best interests at heart, and once we have quantified the impact on the business we will share our strategy with our dealers,” he said.
Citing a Volkswagen memo to dealers in the United States, trade publication Automotive News reported that manufacturer planned to add an “import fee” to cars it ships into the country.
Last year, the firm sold just over one million vehicles in North America, representing 12 percent of its sales by volume.
READ ALSO: How Germany is responding to the latest round of US tariffs
Volkswagen also indicated it would pause rail shipments of vehicles made in Mexico to the United States, Automotive News said.
US President Donald Trump gave German auto manufacturers another headache on Wednesday after he slapped 25-percent tariffs on car imports into the country.
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Carmakers like Volkswagen are already struggling with a stuttering shift to electric vehicles as well as fierce Chinese competition.
Schufa pledges more credit score transparency
In future, consumers are to be given full insight into how their creditworthiness is assessed by Schufa, the credit agency announced.
According to reports in DPA, Schufa has simplified its scoring methods with the promises that even novices will be able to recalculate it without much effort.
The new score is still being tested. Consumers are expected to be able to access it in the fourth quarter of 2025 – via a free digital insight into their personal data either in the Schufa app or online.
The Schufa headquarters in Wiesbaden. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Andreas Arnold
The calculation of the new score takes into account factors such as how long you have been using a credit card or current account.
It also takes into account whether there are any negative entries because bills have not been paid even after several reminders.
Points are awarded for a total of twelve understable criteria, totalling 100 to 999. The higher the total number of points, the higher the customer’s creditworthiness, making it easier to get good deals on credit in Germany.
READ ALSO: How foreigners can improve their German credit score
CSU and SPD leaders praise progress in talks
Despite audible grumbling in the ongoing coalition negotiations, CSU leader Markus Söder and SPD leader Lars Klingbeil have defended their prospects of forming a “stable” government.
The centre-right and centre-left parties will put together a coalition pact that “addresses and solves Germany’s major problems”, Söder insisted on ZDF’s ‘Maybrit Illner’ on Thursday. “Credibility depends on whether we succeed in changing things.”
Leading business organisations have recently expressed their disappointment with the results of the coalition talks so far. Criticism is also growing among the CDU base. According to polls, the centre-right Union alliance is only just ahead of the AfD.
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Speaking on ZDF, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said he continued to support the formation of a Grand Coalition with the CDU and CSU.
“The best thing you can do against an extreme right-wing party is a stable government in the centre of the country that tackles the major problems of our time,” he said.
The parties are currently aiming to iron out existing differences on migration, taxation and social welfare in small working groups. Coalition talks could conclude as early as next week, but a break has nonetheless been scheduled over the Easter holidays.
READ ALSO: Where Germany’s future coalition still disagrees
Tesla sales fall again in Germany amid Musk backlash
Tesla sales plunged again in Germany last month even as the broader electric car market rebounded, data showed Thursday, the latest sign of a growing backlash against billionaire owner Elon Musk.
Just 2,229 of Tesla’s electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in March, about 43 percent fewer compared with the same period last year, the KBA federal transport authority said.
Overall electric vehicle registrations rose 35.5 percent in Germany year-on-year as sales continue to rebound from very low levels seen in early 2024.
Like elsewhere in Europe, EV sales slowed in Germany last year against a weak economic backdrop, with the situation worsened in the region’s biggest auto market by the withdrawal of government subsidies.
Demonstrators rally against Tesla CEO Elon Musk during a “Tesla Takedown” protest outside a Tesla Store in San Francisco, California, on March 29, 2025. Photo: JOSH EDELSON / AFP
Tesla’s sales have been slowing worldwide as Musk faces anger over his role overseeing cuts to the federal workforce in US President Donald Trump’s administration, and due to factory upgrades.
But he has faced particular hostility in Germany after he vocally backed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which is shunned by mainstream parties — ahead of February elections. He has also been in the firing line in Europe for attacking workers’ rights.
READ ALSO: How Tesla is battling against German workers’ sick pay claims
Over the first three months of the year Tesla registrations fell a whopping 62.2 percent compared to the same period in 2024, the KBA said.
Overall in March, the number of new vehicle registrations in Germany fell to 253,497, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, the latest sign of weakness in the market.
Netanyahu’s Hungary visit ‘bad day’ for international law, says Baerbock
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday decried the visit by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hungary despite an ICC arrest warrant.
“This is a bad day for international criminal law,” Baerbock said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.”In Europe, no one is above the law. And that applies to all areas of law.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban invited Netanyahu to his country last November – a day after the ICC issued the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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Among other charges, Netanyahu stands accused of using starvation as a weapon of war after repeatedly cutting off food and water supplies to the Gaza Strip in the current conflict. He denies the allegations.
Following Netanyahu’s arrival in the country, Hungary announced that it wanted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC’s basic treaty – the so-called Rome Statute – stipulates that a withdrawal comes into force one year after the written notice of withdrawal.
With reporting by AFP and DPA
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