Berlin – Until recently, China was lagging behind Germany in car exports, but it is now clearly surpassing it, whether in cars with combustion engines or electric cars.
While Germany has been unable to reach the volume of production that was before the Corona pandemic, the Chinese market is growing skyrocketing.
Asian websites quoted the Chinese Association for the Automotive Industry (CAAM) as saying that China exported 4.41 million cars between January and November 2023, a huge increase over last year, while Germany exported – according to data from the German Association for the Automotive Industry “ VDA – about 3.11 million cars in the entire year.
China exported less than a million cars before 2020, and at that time the difference between it and Germany was vast, but the situation changed radically in 2022 when Beijing exported 2.5 million cars, and then approached Germany, which at that time exported 2.6 million cars, according to the same German source, before To exceed it for the first time in 2023.
China benefited from the decline in car exports from Germany, as Berlin exported more than 4 million cars in 2017.
The automobile sector and its parts constitute the most important export sector in Germany, and in 2022 the sector represented about 15.4% of exports, according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, and the most famous German brands exported abroad are Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes, and BMW.
German Automotive Association spokesman Hans Schumann acknowledges that there is serious competition from China, and that Chinese companies “want to obtain a strong share in the local or international markets.”
Shoman highlights, in statements to Al Jazeera Net, that the biggest difference between the two sides is that “the Chinese auto industry enjoys strong support from the state, which distorts the situation.”
Chinese partner
Even with regard to trade exchange between the two countries in the automotive sector, the numbers show that what China exports to Germany in terms of cars and spare parts is rising steadily, while these exports from Germany to China have declined.
Because of the differences in political opinions, as well as Berlin’s desire to benefit from the mistakes of its experience with Russia when it was suffering from energy dependency, voices rose within Germany calling for the necessity of reducing the economic relationship with China, which is Berlin’s largest trading partner, especially since the German trade deficit with Beijing reached a year. 2022, a record level of 84 billion euros, and the fear of economic dependency is worrying the Germans.
But Hans Schumann tells Al Jazeera Net that, “In the first half of 2023, Germany exported much more cars and spare parts to China (13.7 billion euros) than it imported (3.7 billion euros). Therefore, Germany enjoys a strong positive trade balance in the automotive sector.”
However, the spokesman points out that “competition remains a positive thing and stimulates innovation, and therefore the German automobile industry will work to invest 250 billion euros in research and development by 2027, in addition to another 130 billion euros in building and developing factories.”
China is not only a competitor to Germany, but it is also a market for German cars, and it is the largest host of German car factories abroad, with 350 sales and manufacturing points. Figures from the German Automotive Industry Association show that every one of 5 cars sold in China carries a German brand, and that German companies sold 4.4 million cars in China during 2022, that is, more than what Germany exported from its local factories.
“The sales market in China represents great importance to German car manufacturers, and for this reason they have built huge production capabilities in China,” says the principal researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research, Martin Görning, to Al Jazeera Net, pointing out that current German car production numbers are lower than the numbers before. Corona crisis, and the reasons for this are not clear.
Electric cars…the savior for Germany
The German government aims to reach 15 million electric cars on its roads by 2030, within the framework of the European strategy to ban the sale of internal combustion engine cars, a goal that professionals from the sector question for reasons related to the high prices of electric cars compared to regular cars, and the lack of strong financial support plans from the government. the government.
The percentage of use of electric cars in Germany does not exceed 2.4% of the total number of cars, according to data from the Federal Motor Vehicles Office in 2022, while in China it is 22%, which is a huge number given the size of the Chinese market, according to statistics from the World Resources Institute. It is also a huge percentage given that China has About 312 million registered vehicles, compared to 49 million vehicles in Germany.
“The weak development in the number of electric car registrations in Germany is largely due to the problems that German car manufacturers face in switching from regular cars to this new type,” says Martin Görning, pointing out that “there are likely other factors, including weak financing.” And the shortage of electric charging stations.”
However, the electric car industry made a leap in Germany. In the first half of 2023, 673,000 cars were produced, an increase of 93% in Germany, most of which were fully battery-operated cars (BEV), according to data from the German Association of the Automotive Industry, confirming that This number was the largest in Europe in this period.
However, China is far superior to Germany in this sector, as the Chinese company BYD alone sold 1.57 million electric cars in 2023, and even surpassed Tesla, and Chinese electric cars are now convincing users more with their competitive prices.
German companies are trying to catch up with China, and Hans Schumann confirms that German manufacturers will offer 160 different electronic models around the world by 2024, pointing out that innovation will be the title of new German electric cars.
He adds that German companies will also work to manufacture 15 million electric cars by 2030, and will also work to fulfill the desires of users, including customers in China who use cars as a space for themselves, in a move by German companies to compete with China in its local market.
