Its not only the automotive lobby to be fair.
Lobbies also moved Germany out of solar panel production, batteries and lately heat pumps.
So yeah, the legacy industry lobbies are the problem but not exclusively the automaker ones.
> Lobbies also moved Germany out of solar panel production, batteries
Was it lobbies, or costs which aren't competitive with China?
This is a very well researched essay regarding the solar panel industry in China and Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoCoPmtNRJo I really recommend watching / reading sober assessments like this.
This is the strategic decision that was the last nail in the coffin for European battery cell manufacturing: https://www.reuters.com/article/business/bosch-shuns-battery...
It is a rational assessment of realities when it comes to high end production. Not every industrial environment can produce every kind of industry. At some point the costs are too high to overcome the difference.