German car manufacturers have long been used to success. But when it comes to e-mobility, they have to push hard in order not to be left behind by the competition. On top of that, the market is losing momentum.
At the start of production of Volkswagen’s new ID.7 electric sedan, things are still jerking a little at the Emden plant: when Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil rolled into the passenger seat of a new ID.7 together with VW core brand boss Thomas Schäfer and works council chief Daniela Cavallo on the back seat for the final inspection of the new car, the technology went on strike.
A test stand, the so-called vibrating roller, was to be used to test how the new car behaves on different road surfaces – but the vibrating roller did not start. It only worked on the second try.
But breakdown or not: VW has high hopes for the new top-of-the-range electric model, which marks the most important novelty of the year for the brand. With a range of up to 700 kilometers, VW finally wants to be on par with Tesla and advance into areas that make e-cars attractive for long-distance and frequent drivers – whether in Europe, China or the USA.
VW sorely needs more momentum in e-mobility, and other German car manufacturers are also feeling the effects that the electric boom has recently lost momentum. The reduction in e-car subsidies in Germany at the turn of the year, many customers’ fear of range and the continued high prices of many e-models are putting pressure on demand. And new competitors are entering the market from China. All manufacturers are still living off the backlog of orders left by the lack of parts in recent years. But experts warn that this will soon be over.
Due to the weak demand for electric cars, VW in Emden has already had to reduce the production of its electric models and sent 300 of the 1,500 temporary workers home. “We see that electromobility is unfortunately not accepted in the way we all – including politicians – imagined,” Cavallo, head of the works council, recently told the “Braunschweiger Zeitung”.
In comparison, BMW has the highest sales of electric cars
The Wolfsburg core brand was able to increase sales of its purely electric vehicles by a good 42 percent in the first half of the year. With just under 165,000 vehicles, the share in total sales was only 7.4 percent. VW is still a long way from the goal of becoming a purely electric brand, at least in Europe, by 2033. At the subsidiary Audi, with an 8.3 percent electric share, things were hardly better. Mercedes-Benz achieved 10 percent in the first half of the year, BMW at least 12.6 percent.
German manufacturers are in danger of falling behind in the face of competition from Tesla and new providers from China, warns Frank Schwope, lecturer in the automotive industry at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences. “With the electric drive, the cards are now being reshuffled,” he says. “The topic has long been underestimated by the established manufacturers, and by almost all of them. They were still stuck with the old combustion engine technology, which they wanted to continue milking as long as possible.”
Now that’s taking revenge. Because unlike the combustion engine, the new challengers with the electric drive are at eye level or even ahead. “The Chinese have the software and batteries under control. And they are now trusted a lot when it comes to technology,” says Schwope. Companies like MG, Nio and above all BYD (Build Your Dreams) are now boldly pushing into the European market. “The Chinese will really take off in 2024,” Schwope is convinced.
China: VW has already been replaced as market leader
VW is already feeling this in China. When it comes to combustion engines, the Wolfsburg-based company is the market leader there by a wide margin. But they are only a niche supplier in the rapidly growing electronics market. The Chinese newcomer BYD is so far in the lead there that it also replaced VW as market leader overall.
VW has meanwhile taken the leap forward in China: The core brand has joined the new e-brand Xpeng and intends to take over platforms for its own e-models in China from there in the future. Meanwhile, Audi is getting technical support from the previous joint venture partner SAIC, which has so far mainly served as an extended workbench. But that could also become a boomerang, warns car expert Stefan Bratzel from the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach. “You have to be careful not to end up becoming the Chinese manufacturer’s extended workbench,” he says. “If we don’t manage to be as much better in Germany as we are more expensive,” then German car manufacturers would have no chance.
Source: Stern
