Why Germany's automotive industry is going down the drain: China's electric car market remains on a growth path

   "China is continuing to expand its leadership in electromobility. Strong growth in the domestic market is helping manufacturers like BYD achieve greater economies of scale.

 

     While Germany prefers only to discuss electric cars, China - by far the most important market - continues to grow strongly. 

 

In November, 552,000 purely electric cars were sold there, 12 percent more than in October. 

 

According to the China Passenger Car Association, pure electric cars now make up 27 percent of the total market; including the plug-in hybrids it is 40 percent. 

 

The growing popularity of electric cars is forcing combustion engine manufacturers there to offer steep discounts in order to get rid of their vehicles - and that is driving the entire market.

 

     The high volumes help manufacturers to achieve economies of scale and to establish hotspots such as in the Chinese province of Anhui, where modern production concepts with lower costs are emerging.

 

 Volkswagen is also present here. "China is like a gym for us. But we have to train harder and faster," said VW boss Oliver Blume at the IAA. The expiration of the e-car subsidy in Germany will increase the pressure on prices here too and thus play into the hands of Chinese manufacturers.

 

     BYD remains clearly in the lead

 

     In the pure electric vehicle market in China, BYD maintained its leadership position in November with 133,785 vehicles sold and a market share of 27 percent. Tesla is in second place with 65,504 vehicles sold. The strong increase compared to October is mainly due to the updated Model 3, which was sold 15,000 times. Third, fourth and fifth places in the EV sales list were occupied by Wuling, Aion and Volkswagen.

 

     BYD's share of global electric car sales is now 17 percent, which is exactly the same as Tesla's. Volkswagen, as the third-place provider, cannot keep up with the pace of the two market leaders: While Volkswagen was ahead of BYD two years ago, its global market share is currently only half of BYD's at 8 percent." [1]

 

1. Chinas Elektroauto-Markt bleibt auf Wachstumskurs. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Dec 19, 2023. Von Holger Schmidt