Chinese carmakers are descending on Europe’s premier car show this week in such large numbers, the German media is reaching a state of near existential angst.
Normally the IAA provides a biennial opportunity for the country’s vaunted automakers and suppliers to show off their most impressive new innovations, wowing visitors and journalists alike.
This time, however, everyone is only talking about one thing—the potential tidal wave of new electric vehicles from the Far East that threatens them in their own home market.
“The IAA becomes the China show,” one of the country’s leading business weeklies warned, while Der Spiegel predicted “trying times ahead for the German automotive industry.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Chinese carmakers are descending on Europe’s premier car show this week in such large numbers, the German media is reaching a state of near existential angst.
“We want to be premium and affordable,” said BYD Europe manager Brian Yang in an interview with Handelsblatt, a German daily paper closely monitored by the country’s corporate elite.
If China can use this advantage to build cars like the BYD Seal that are seen as both premium and affordable, then there is no competitive edge left for the rest of the industry save to rely on brand heritage.
Initially, brands like Mercedes struck a number of deals with local Chinese companies to maintain their dominance around the world, hoping to get into bed with some of them with the aim of bolstering the lagging competitiveness of their small car range.
Now Volkswagen—once the undisputed king ever since its prescient bet to enter China back in 1984—has been forced to strike a $700 million deal with Chinese newcomer Xpeng in hopes of shoring up its lack of expertise in connected cars.
But just as important has been the devotion by Chinese brands to improving the software experience—a necessity for a population that is used to accomplishing most of their daily needs through smartphone app WeChat, so dominant even Elon Musk openly wants to copy it.
The original article contains 797 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
How about the tariffs?
As much as I dislike defending large multinational corporations. Europe will need to enact something like the US chicken tax to defend its car industry.
China didn’t develop a half a million in excess EV production capacity by accident. This is deliberate and state funded.
