Volkswagen, Toyota and BMW take cover in China on electric cars
At the Shanghai auto show, foreign manufacturers – Volkswagen, Toyota and BMW – pamper China. But local EV makers like BYD and Nio are threatening to drive them out of business with their low prices. Here are facts and statements
For Volkswagen, the Shanghai auto show represents an opportunity for a relaunch in China, which accounted for about 40 percent of its global sales last year. However, the German company is struggling to compete with local EV brands in the world's largest car market: Chinese competition is fierce, moves fast and sells at rock-bottom prices.
VOLKSWAGEN ADS FOR CHINA
Volkswagen announced in Shanghai that it will introduce another ten electric models in China by 2026 and that it will cut the development time of the new offer by almost 40 percent. "Our guiding principle is full-speed development in China and for China," said Thomas Schäfer, Volkswagen brand administrator, as reported by the specialized portal Automobile News Europe .
2022 was a bit of a turning point for Volkswagen and the other historically dominant foreign companies present in the country: they lost market share compared to domestic producers of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. BYD , for example, has sold more cars than both Volkswagen and Japan's Toyota.
BYD WANTS TO REPLACE TOYOTA
The Japanese company is also present at the Shanghai show, where it presented two new electric vehicle models and a Lexus brand hybrid minivan, the Luxury Mover, to improve its positioning in the luxury car segment.
BYD, on the other hand, has launched a new electric sedan model, the Seagull, to replace Toyota (the popular Toyota Corolla model, specifically) in the small car segment. BYD's Seagull has a starting price of just over $11,000. Toyota's most popular electric model in China, the bZ4X SUV, retails for around $25,000.
BMW EVEN COURTS CHINA
BMW, from Germany, also wants to expand its offer in China: by the end of the year it expects to introduce eleven new electric models in the country.
At the Shanghai showroom, CEO Olivier Zipse declared that “what moves Chinese customers today moves the world tomorrow”. Today, electric vehicles account for almost a third of registrations in the country.
CHINESE MANUFACTURERS WANT TO CUT THEIR SALES PRICES
Chinese automakers aim to bring down the selling prices of electric vehicles: good news for consumers, notes Automotive News Europe , but a threat to foreign manufacturers, who may not be able to keep up.
According to Zhu Jiangmin, CEO of Leapmotore, within ten years an electric SUV equipped with a battery with a driving range of 400 kilometers and made in China could be sold for just $7,500.
Tesla's Model Y, an internationally popular electric SUV, has a range of 545 kilometers but is sold in China for nearly $40,000. Tesla did not participate in the Shanghai show: in the last period it has been criticized by Chinese customers for not introducing new models and new features.
NIO ATTACKS TESLA
William Li, founder of the Chinese electric vehicle company Nio, has launched a direct attack on Elon Musk's company. He said the Model 3, one of Tesla's flagship models, "was competitive in 2018, but today it's not so competitive […]. In China, you can get better cars for the same price."
Nio and other Chinese manufacturers have a 20 percent manufacturing expense advantage over Tesla, Li said, thanks to China's dominance of the battery supply chain, from base metals to end devices.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/volkswagen-cina-salone-auto-shanghai/ on Wed, 19 Apr 2023 06:04:45 +0000.