Chinese automakers have been believed to be capable of opening up the European market for years. Now their cars are rolling onto German roads in relevant numbers for the first time. The currently largest electric car manufacturer in the world has also announced that it will start in Germany in the fall.
Big changes sometimes announce themselves small. The fact that the Federal Motor Transport Authority has been listing Chinese manufacturers in its official statistics for the first time since the beginning of the year is something that few people interested in cars should have noticed. It might be the start of a cultural revolution. Because after the entire car industry has been whispering with concern for years that the Chinese are coming, they are suddenly here. And meet a vulnerable European competition in transition.
Almost 7,000 cars from Chinese manufacturers received a German license plate in the first seven months of the year. That doesn’t seem like much at first. But their share of the weak overall market is already almost half a percent. Alone number-Primus MG Roewe holds 0.3 percent – as much as the former volume brand Honda, more than traditional manufacturers such as Subaru, Alfa Romeo or Lexus. If you widen the perspective and look at the whole of Europe, the numbers also become more concise. The consulting agency Inovev counted 75,000 new car registrations from Chinese manufacturers in the first half of the year and expects 150,000 units for the year as a whole. In 2021, the number of vehicles sold in the 29 countries considered was 80,000.
While the electric crossover MG ZS EV is the most popular car in Europe, the crossover EHS from the same manufacturer is still ahead in this country, a plug-in hybrid in the Tiguan league, which is significantly cheaper at just under 35,000 euros as the Wolfsburg bestseller. There were 2575 new registrations in the first half of the year – a similar number to that of a Seat Tarraco or a Renault Kadjar.
In addition to MG Roewe and the Volvo sister Lynk
A real giant has also announced its launch in Germany for next October. Then BYD, currently the largest electric car manufacturer in the world, wants to start selling in this country. The private company sold around 640,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids worldwide in the first half of the year. When it comes to battery technology, the Chinese are also among the world’s technology leaders.
In general, the times when cheap copying was the main thing in the Middle Kingdom are over. In the current innovation ranking of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach, MG parent company SAIC and BYD are in fourth and fifth place. Behind VW, Tesla and Mercedes, but ahead of BMW, General Motors and Hyundai. For the annual ranking, CAM analyzed and evaluated the innovations of 28 automotive groups with around 80 automotive brands. The Chinese scored particularly well in e-mobility.
Another strength is the comparatively low prices. At around 34,000 euros, the compact electric SUV MG ZS EV costs less than the small electric car Renault Zoe, which has been the electric car bestseller in China for many years. The Aiways U5, with an electric range of 400 kilometers, is available with almost full equipment for 45,000 euros, the MG5 electric station wagon is available for 35,500 euros. Even the most expensive Chinese car, the MG Marvel R, costs a comparatively cheap 50,000 euros. A price range from which many European manufacturers are slowly withdrawing.
Audi has already announced that it will give up the small car segment and will no longer launch any successors for the A1 and Q2. Mercedes has announced a new luxury strategy, which at least the current compact models, if not the middle class, should fall victim to. And even bourgeois manufacturers like Ford want to concentrate on high-priced models like the Mustang and Bronco family in the future.
Margin instead of volume is the current strategy of Western manufacturers, who have been increasingly withdrawing from price-sensitive segments for some time. There are hardly any small cars anymore and the small car segment is also shrinking in terms of variants and importance. Instead, higher-priced SUVs are flooding the model ranges.
A gap that the Chinese could fill. For example with the Wuling Mini EV. The almost three meter long mini-van, a joint product of SAIC and General Motors, has celebrated its EU launch in Lithuania largely unnoticed – with prices starting at 10,000 euros. In China, the small car has been the best-selling car for years, finding 214,000 customers in the first half of the year alone. Globally, it has a 37 percent share of the market for electric microcars.
