dependence on China
“What we see in the auto industry is serious”
07/14/2023 4:03 p.m
Price wars, Chinese competitors, declining market shares: the German car manufacturers have a big problem. Jan Burgard, an expert at Berylls Consulting, explains where the greatest risks lurk.
The German automakers are in a paradoxical position: Profits are skyrocketing this year, and sales in Europe and the USA are also doing comparatively well. At the same time, manufacturers are threatened on two fronts by doing business with China: market shares in the important market are declining, and Chinese suppliers are pushing into Europe.
Jan Burgard, boss and co-founder of the consulting firm Berylls
(Photo: Jan Burgard)
“If I try to sit it out as a manufacturer, I won’t succeed – because my dependence on China is far too great,” says Jan Burgard, boss and co-founder of the consulting firm Berylls, which specializes in the auto industry, in the podcast “The hour Zero”. “What we see now is serious.”
According to Burgard, the Germans are lagging behind, especially when it comes to more affordable small and medium-sized cars, i.e. where, for example, many brands of the Volkswagen Group cavort. “We have a big problem in the volume segment,” says the Berylls boss.
Manufacturers would also be faced with the question of how to ramp up the development of electric cars while at the same time still generating a large proportion of sales from combustion models. “You should also invest the money you earn in the things you lack,” says Burgard. “That happens too. The big question is whether companies can do it fast enough.”
A particular problem arises with the price, a factor on which both the Chinese competitors and US suppliers like Tesla are putting the Germans under massive pressure – among other things because they can produce with lower energy costs. “There’s a price war raging that some German manufacturers just can’t keep up with,” says Burgard.
Listen in the new episode of “The Zero Hour“
- Why electric cars are so popular in China
- Why the debate about technology openness is a problem
- Whether the funding for e-cars in Germany should be extended
All episodes can be found directly at RTL+, Apple or Spotify or via Google.