MUNICH (Reuters) – European automakers must prove their ability to compete with new Asian electric players on everything from product and financial strategy to mastery of the supply chain, analysts and chiefs said. of the industry at the IAA mobility fair in Munich.
Around 41% of this year’s exhibitors are headquartered in Asia, the number of Chinese companies has more than doubled and includes players in the battery industry and electric vehicle production such as BYD, CATL and XPeng.
“Chinese manufacturers are very competitive in the electric car value chain, I think they left a generation earlier,” Renault CEO Luca de Meo told RTL on Monday.
“We have to catch up with that very quickly,” he added as the French manufacturer unveiled a new 100% electric Scenic model.
Major German manufacturers and suppliers as well as Chinese companies LeapMotors and Horizon Robotics will also speak at a conference on Chinese electric vehicles to be held as part of the IAA on Wednesday and Thursday, a first outside China.
Price competition will be a key theme at the conference, as Tesla is due to showcase its upgraded Model 3 which will go on sale in Europe from October at a price of 42,990 euros.
Mercedes-Benz will showcase its compact CLA and BMW its Neue Klasse, both of which aim to increase range and efficiency while halving production costs.
Volkswagen, meanwhile, unveiled a concept car for its Cupra brand on Sunday and outlined a new, more design-focused strategy, with chief designers working more closely with the chief executives of the 10 brands to develop greater differentiation.
The Munich motor show “which was once a performance for the German automotive industry to demonstrate its extremely strong position is now a meeting of equals between progressive players from all over the world, especially from China”, observes Fabian Brandt from consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
(Report Victoria Waldersee, Gilles Gillaume and Christina Amann; French version Nathan Vifflin, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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