dpa
Beijing
Leaders of German automotive giant Volkswagen (VW) are expecting the next two years in the highly competitive Chinese car market to be difficult, but don’t fear challenges from rival Chinese carmakers in the European market.
Chinese carmakers will eventually need to invest in European production plants to build vehicles locally instead of shipping huge numbers of finished vehicles by ocean, Ralf Brandstätter, head of VW’s China business, said on Wednesday in Beijing ahead of a major auto show in the Chinese capital.
That would also put Chinese competitors on more equal footing with European rivals because of higher labour and energy costs in Europe, Brandstätter said.
“Sending a huge amount of ships of cars from China to Europe, this will not be a long lasting model I think,” he said. “They have to compete in the same environment as we are competing.” Major Chinese brands such as the electric car giant BYD and the state-owned Saic Group are currently using a fleet of cargo ships to export their vehicles worldwide. The first deliveries to Germany have already occurred.
Chinese vehicles have not flooded the European market, as some feared, but Chinese brands are gaining a foothold with consumers.
In China, consumers have been impressed with Chinese electric vehicle brands, which offer favourable prices and competitive technology.
Volkswagen, which invested heavily in the Chinese market, has not yet been able to keep up with BYD or the US electric car manufacturer Tesla.
“I am not afraid of competition from Chinese brands in Europe,” Volkswagen’s chief executive, Oliver Blume, said on Wednesday.
Blume said he’d rather see a “fair deal” for all automakers as opposed to punitive tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles, which may result from the European Union’s ongoing anti-subsidy investigation.
