08-04-2024, 08:59 AM
Steve Mollman
Sun, 7 April 2024 at 4:39 am SGT
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The automaker "cannot keep up at the top of the table at the moment” in China’s EV sector, VW chief Oliver Blume told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a Friday interview
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VW had long been China’s best-selling automotive brand, but last year it was overtaken by Chinese rival BYD, which sells both EVs and plug-in hybrids but no longer produces traditional cars. BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, also beat Tesla for the first time in global sales of electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year, although Elon Musk’s carmaker reclaimed the crown in the first three months of this year.
......
The intense competition in China’s EV space is having ripple effects both within and outside the country. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Tesla planned to reduce production at its Shanghai plant, with the carmaker facing ever stiffer competition from Chinese rivals offering more affordable EVs with all manner of features.
......
“If there are no trade barriers established,” Musk said earlier this year of Chinese automakers, “they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world. They’re extremely good.”
“No one can match BYD on price. Period,” Michael Dunne, CEO of Asia-focused car consultancy Dunne Insights, told the Financial Times in January. “Boardrooms in America, Europe, Korea, and Japan are in a state of shock.”
Interestingly Australia, which has no legacy automakers to protect, is putting up no roadblocks to Chinese EV makers, which are quickly expanding there.
In Japan last month, Nissan and Honda, facing the looming threat of Chinese EV giants, announced a once unthinkable partnership to develop electric vehicles together.
“The rise of emerging players is becoming faster and stronger,” Honda president Toshihiro Mibe told the Financial Times. “Companies that cannot respond to the changes will be wiped out.”
Similarly, Ford said in February it’s open to cooperating with rivals to lower EV production costs, with GM signaling a similar willingness. Both cited the rising threat from China.
As for Volkswagen, it said it might collaborate on mass-market EVs with French rival Renault
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-...55655.html
Sun, 7 April 2024 at 4:39 am SGT
......
The automaker "cannot keep up at the top of the table at the moment” in China’s EV sector, VW chief Oliver Blume told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a Friday interview
......
VW had long been China’s best-selling automotive brand, but last year it was overtaken by Chinese rival BYD, which sells both EVs and plug-in hybrids but no longer produces traditional cars. BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, also beat Tesla for the first time in global sales of electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year, although Elon Musk’s carmaker reclaimed the crown in the first three months of this year.
......
The intense competition in China’s EV space is having ripple effects both within and outside the country. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Tesla planned to reduce production at its Shanghai plant, with the carmaker facing ever stiffer competition from Chinese rivals offering more affordable EVs with all manner of features.
......
“If there are no trade barriers established,” Musk said earlier this year of Chinese automakers, “they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world. They’re extremely good.”
“No one can match BYD on price. Period,” Michael Dunne, CEO of Asia-focused car consultancy Dunne Insights, told the Financial Times in January. “Boardrooms in America, Europe, Korea, and Japan are in a state of shock.”
Interestingly Australia, which has no legacy automakers to protect, is putting up no roadblocks to Chinese EV makers, which are quickly expanding there.
In Japan last month, Nissan and Honda, facing the looming threat of Chinese EV giants, announced a once unthinkable partnership to develop electric vehicles together.
“The rise of emerging players is becoming faster and stronger,” Honda president Toshihiro Mibe told the Financial Times. “Companies that cannot respond to the changes will be wiped out.”
Similarly, Ford said in February it’s open to cooperating with rivals to lower EV production costs, with GM signaling a similar willingness. Both cited the rising threat from China.
As for Volkswagen, it said it might collaborate on mass-market EVs with French rival Renault
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-...55655.html