No power train without Miba technology

General Economic Setting
The year 2009 was marked by the global recession, which proved particularly challenging
to the entire economy. The bank crisis, which took its course in the third quarter of 2008,
spread bit by bit to encompass all industries. The economic powers in Europe and North
America were especially hard hit by the negative economic growth. In emerging markets
such as China and India, the recession was visible in a slowing of growth. For Miba,
this worldwide decline brought falling demand in a series of waves that first affected the
automotive segment, followed by the truck segment and finally shipbuilding.
According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculations, global economic growth
in 2009 was -0.8 percent, after approximately 3 percent the year before. This makes 2009
the economically weakest year since the Second World War. The gross domestic product
shrank by 4 percent in the European Union and by 2.5 percent in the USA. In China
economic growth fell from 9.8 (2008) to 8.7 percent, while India’s growth sank from
7.3 to 5.6 percent.
Around the end of 2009, economic performance noticeably stabilized. The IMF expects a
slow recovery in 2010.
Sector growth
After a difficult first half of 2009, automobile production in the second half of the year
appeared to have tentatively returned to solid ground. Worldwide production sank to just
over 60 million vehicles, a decline of 11 million from the previous year. In Europe as well
as in the USA, fewer vehicles were produced than in 2008. Sales of new automobiles,
however, sank only by 2.2 million to 63.3 million. This can be attributed to higher sales
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