German automakers may be raising car prices as demand for new vehicles outstrips a supply that is still struggling with a shortage of semiconductors.
That is according to the Munich-based Ifo economics institute, which compiles the country's most-watched business survey. It says the situation in the auto industry improved at the start of the year, even though conditions for suppliers got worse.
"A possible reason for this is that automakers succeeded in getting customers on board with price increases, whereas suppliers have not," said Oliver Falck, director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.