Miele’s Dr Reinhard Zinkann has branded the UK’s exit from the European Union as a “disaster that cuts off Britain from Europe”.
Speaking at IFA, Dr Zinkann, the company’s executive director and co-proprietor, said: “I believe that the last word has not been spoken, somehow they have to find a solution before March next year, but they won’t find one.
“The British Government will postpone the whole thing until 2020, which is the last chance, according to the constitution. I hope that, in the meantime, the majority of the UK population changes its mind. The problem for the British people is that everything gets more expensive because there is really no industry in Great Britain.”
Dr Zinkann said that the UK’s imminent departure from the EU had hit Miele’s sales in the UK.
He said: “We are not happy with sales in the UK because of Brexit – the whole industry had a strike.”
For the financial year, ended June 30, Miele further consolidated its high-level growth globally.
Dr Zinkann said that turnover reached €4.1 billion (£3.7bn), which was up 4.3% on the previous year. Built-in appliances made an above average contribution to this success. Among Miele’s sales regions around the globe, Asia saw particularly dynamic growth.
At IFA, Miele unveiled its new G7000 dishwasher, which is the first on the market to feature auto-dosing.
Dr Zinkann said: “From the reactions to the new G7000 dishwasher, we are very happy and it’s been received extremely well. We are launching the G7000 dishwasher, market by market, so not all markets worldwide will get it at once – in Central Europe, it’s available now.”
Looking ahead, Dr Zinkann said: “There are political threats and currency issues, but there will always be a market for appliances. There will always be a market for exchanging appliances when they break down and there will always be a market for those that are interested in buying state-of-the-art appliances.
“The middle class worldwide is gaining, especially in many markets where there never was a middle class. They definitely want to get rid of their past and move up in terms of their lifestyle. There will always be a market. In terms of Miele, we have so many new products in the pipeline, so I am not afraid at all.”