China wants to become the world market leader in electric cars. Global dominance seems possible.
According to a new study, the traditional export surplus of the German car industry in China could collapse as early as this year. This year, 440,000 vehicles from Chinese manufacturers could be imported into Europe, estimate the car experts at the auditing firm PwC and their in-house management consultancy Strategy& in a publication. The number of cars from European manufacturers exported to China, however, could fall to 325,000 vehicles – the majority of which are vehicles from the German industry: 295,000.
Last year, the ratio was the other way round: Europe’s car industry delivered 350,000 vehicles – including 320,000 German ones – to China, compared to 280,000 cars of Chinese brands that were imported into Europe.
Chinese manufacturers are rapidly expanding their domestic market share
The main topic of the study is the global sales of electric cars; the authors analyzed sales figures in 21 countries. As Chinese manufacturers are rapidly increasing their market share of battery-powered cars, plug-in hybrids and “extended range” battery-powered cars with a supplementary gasoline engine in their huge domestic market, their global importance is also growing, as the paper shows.
According to the study, almost 65 percent of all cars sold in the People’s Republic in the second quarter were of Chinese production, an increase of more than a quarter compared to the summer of 2019. According to the study, this is mainly due to the growing market share of electric cars, which includes hybrids of all types in addition to battery-powered vehicles.
Punitive tariffs would not be of much use to European manufacturers
The authors doubt that EU punitive tariffs on Chinese electric cars will benefit European manufacturers in the long term. Tariffs could give European carmakers short-term advantages over Chinese competitors, said Felix Kuhnert, head of the automotive division at PwC Germany. “However, Chinese manufacturers have shown a high level of adaptability and agility in the past and will use the tariffs as an opportunity to increase their production capacities in Europe or to look for partners for contract manufacturing and to come up with even more competitive products.”
The Beijing leadership has set the goal of becoming the global technology leader in a number of industrial sectors, including electric cars. The production and sale of electric cars are therefore being promoted at various levels in China, including municipal subsidies in major cities.
Source: Stern
