Share of almost 40 percent: car manufacturers increasingly dependent on China

Share of almost 40 percent
Car manufacturers increasingly dependent on China

Without China, German carmakers would have looked bad in the pandemic year. Thanks to stable sales in the Far East, the share of business there increases to almost 40 percent.

The importance of the Chinese market for the German automotive industry has risen to a new record level. Four out of ten new cars are exported to China, reports the "Augsburger Allgemeine" with reference to a study by the Center Automotive Research by the car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. In 2020, the German car groups Volkswagen, Daimler and the BMW Group exported 5.4 million vehicles to China. That was 38.2 percent of the total of 14.16 million new vehicles sold worldwide.

"The Chinese share of German car manufacturers has never been so high and it will continue to rise," said Dudenhöffer of the newspaper. Accordingly, the export share rose, although the actual sales figures for German vehicles on the Chinese market fell slightly by 250,000 new vehicles. While BMW and Mercedes increased their sales, the VW group sold 383,600 fewer cars in China. In other parts of the world, however, sales fell much more sharply.

BMW increased its Chinese export share in 2020 compared to the previous year from 28.5 to 33.4 percent, Daimler from 25.3 percent to 30.6 percent and among the car brands of the Volkswagen Group, the share of the Chinese business is now 41.4 Percent, after 38.6 percent in the previous year. VW and Audi are no longer conceivable without the China business, said Dudenhöffer. The country is now the most important market for the group. The importance of BMW is also growing. "The success and growth of the German auto industry, like economic growth in Germany, is shaped by China."

China's auto market picked up at the end of the year

Almost every fifth new car (19.3 percent) sold in China today comes from the VW Group. One reason for the country's growing importance is the corona crisis. With strict measures, China has largely got the Sars-CoV-2 virus under control since the summer and is now only recording locally limited outbreaks.

Life and economic activity have returned to normal. The car market also picked up significantly again at the end of the year. "I am firmly convinced that China has not only really overcome Covid-19, but even more so the short-term downturn that began with the trade tensions between the US and China in 2018," said VW's China boss Stephan Wöllenstein.

After the terrible year 2020, manufacturers are optimistic about the current year and hope that the vaccinations can overcome the pandemic. The situation remains challenging, said Audi sales director Hildegard Wortmann in mid-January. "Nevertheless, we have set ourselves ambitious goals for 2021, want to continue growing and look confidently to the future," she added. The eyes are again directed to China, where manufacturers are betting on further growth – provided the corona virus does not break out again.

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