Volkswagen and other European giants risk being left behind in an industry where manufacturing and sales dynamics are changing at a dizzying pace.
Automakers and startups electric vehicles from all over the world presented this Thursday new models and concept cars at the largest motor show in Chinawith the focus on the transformation of the Asian giant into an outstanding market and production center for innovation in the sector, while Europe struggles to keep up.
Toyota and Nissan announced alliances with important chinese technology companies in its effort to meet customer demand for online connectivity enabled by AI in carsfrom social media apps to autonomous driving features.
The chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles have been rapidly expanding into foreign markets and now they build every time more factories in Europeraising concerns in some countries that they pose a potential threat to European industry and jobs.
The EU this weighing the possibility of imposing duty to the electric vehicles made in China due to government subsidies that fueled the growth of the industry.
In her speech to the European Parliament last September, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyentouched on the root of the problem: “World markets are now flooded with cheaper electric cars. And their price is kept artificially low thanks to huge state subsidies.”
“Europe is open to competence. Not a race to the bottom,” she added.
“We have to work harder and faster to keep up,” says Volkswagen CEO
The proliferation of global electric vehicle manufacturers, encouraged by tax breaks and green energy subsidies, has led to a fierce price war which is expected to lead to a shakeup and consolidation of the industry in the coming years.
He development of the Chinese sector and strong competition in both manufacturing and sales has been so rapid that several domestic companies have closed completely, while international ones have folded.
“No other region in the world has a transformation of the automotive industry so fast like in China“Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said Wednesday at an event ahead of his company’s appearance at the auto show.
“This market has become for us a kind of gym“, he stated. “We have to work harder and faster to keep up the pace.”
Manufacturers such as Volkswagen, which sells around one third of their cars in China, they are striving to develop new models for a market very different from their own, and they are expanding far beyond their roots in China as a maker of simple sedans used by taxi fleets.
He Volkswagen Groupwhich also includes Audi and Porsche, plans to launch 40 new models in China over the next three years and have a line 30 electric vehicles by 2030, in what Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume told investors Wednesday is the company’s “second home market.” ”.
Volkswagen’s response has been to develop cars in China right from the startinstead of adapting European models to the local market.
The company announced earlier this month that it would invest 2.5 billion euros to expand research, development and production in the city of Hefei, where it has partnered with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPENG Motors to develop two mid-size VW models to be launched in 2026.
However, the company has been criticized for operating a plant in the western Chinese region of Xinjiangwhere Western governments accused the Chinese Executive of human rights violations committed against the Uyghur Muslim minority.
Chinese authorities have been accused of interning hundreds of thousands of people, many of them allegedly forced to perform forced labor.
Volkswagen has said an audit found no evidence of forced labor at its facilities, although Brandstätter said on Wednesday the group is in talks with its Chinese partner on a joint venture in Xinjiang and is investigating options for the future of the plant.
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