In 2008 the manufacturers of electrical drives in Germany expects growth of sales of 4.1 percent according to the segment of Electrical Drives in the German ZVEI Association of Automation. This would be the 6th successive growth year. The number of employees will increase by approximately 4 percent to 51,000. The year 2007 closed with a sales profit of 8.4 percent to 10.2 billion Euro. According to official sources the exports in the first 5 month of the present year increased by 15 percent. Strong growth was noted especially in India and South East Asia. However, the association feels that in 2009 it will be difficult to generate further growth from the present level. Everything depends on the development of the most important sales markets of machine construction and the automobile industry.

The sales in the market segment of low voltage three-phase motors are profiting, despite slowing demand dynamics, locally by a high backlog of orders and further stable export business. After an increase of 19 percent in the previous year, a further increase for 2008 of 7 percent to 2.5 billion Euro is expected. Also in frequency converters a weakening can be noticed in the lower performance sector and this is affecting the turnover. The increase of 13 percent in 2007 is expected to be followed by a more modest growth of turnover of approximately 6 percent to 1.66 billion Euro.

In the small motors segment the German market in the lower price region is increasingly served by foreign production. A drop in production of 6 percent in 2007 will probably be followed by a further drop of 4 percent to almost 2.12 billion Euro in the current year. However, the production of high-voltage motors is running at high speed. After an increase of 36 percent in the previous year, a further increase for 2008 of 10 percent to 365 million Euro is expected. Meanwhile, the job overhang at full production is ensured until far into 2009.