I started at 47k 14 years ago at an automotive company in southern Germany. I think they generally pay a bit better than the small companies, and nowadays it certainly is even more. The caps will also be higher than what you mentioned. But there is certainly a lot of a lower limit than what people can make as individual contributors in other countries.

Even in Berlin my employer offered 50k plus 8% bonus for new grads. Some hip startups paid even more than us.

Plus about every fresh grad hired at the IG Metall Tarif, they're definitely not starting at a mere 40k.