AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/06 Report--

The Quande Automobile Club, Germany's largest transportation association, released a survey showing that 59 percent of Germans are willing to buy cars made by Chinese automakers, Xinhua reported. Among them, young people are more willing to buy Chinese-branded cars, with 72 percent of German consumers aged 18-29 and 74 percent of 30-39-year-olds. Among the respondents who wanted to buy pure electric cars, 80% of Germans were willing to buy Chinese electric cars. When talking about the reasons for choosing Chinese brands, 83% of German respondents believe that the primary reason is cost-effective, while 55% and 37% respectively cited innovative technology and design as attractive factors.

On Friday, the German Association of Automobile Manufacturers (VDA) cut its annual sales forecast for electric vehicles. The agency forecasts that sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will fall 21 per cent to 551000, compared with a previous forecast of a 17 per cent decline to 578000.

According to data released by the Federal Motor Transport Administration (KBA), German car sales totaled 1.9072 million in the first eight months of 2024, down 0.2% from a year earlier, including 197300 in August, down 27.8% from a year earlier. Among the brand segments, including MINI (- 45 per cent), Audi (- 37 per cent), BMW (- 23 per cent) and Mercedes-Benz (- 16 per cent), Volkswagen has the largest local market share, but sales are also down 23 per cent.

By contrast, the German electric car market is even bleaker. Data show that German electric vehicle sales rose 12% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2024, thanks to registration in early 2024. German electric vehicle sales began to decline sharply in recent months. Among them, it fell 69% in August, 37% in July and 16% in June, due to the decline in electric vehicle subsidies.

In 2023, driven by German government subsidies, the German electric car market experienced explosive growth, especially when the subsidies were coming to an end, when German consumers were rushing to buy electric cars. After the decline in electric car subsidies, the soaring price of electric cars in Germany, coupled with inadequate charging facilities and battery life problems, have made consumers back down, leading to an even more obvious slowdown in sales this year. In other words, the high price of electric cars, anxiety about battery life and concerns about the availability of energy facilities are the main reasons for the collapse in German electric car sales, as consumers begin to return to traditional fuel vehicles after subsidies for electric vehicles have declined.

Among the sales of German electric car brands, Tesla's decline is the most significant. According to the data, Tesla sold 26100 vehicles in the German market in the first eight months of 2024, with a market share of 1.4 per cent, down 44.7 per cent from a year earlier, of which 2370 were sold in August, down 65.7 per cent from a year earlier.

At the same time, although more and more German people are beginning to favor Chinese-branded cars, Chinese brands are actually very "sad" in the German market, including MG, BYD, Great Wall and other brands do not have a high share of the German market, mainly because of the lack of awareness of Chinese-branded cars and the huge tariffs that Chinese automakers will face in Europe.

On October 4th the European Union voted on whether to impose a five-year countervailing duty on Chinese electric vehicles. The European Commission's proposal to impose tariffs on Chinese imports of pure electric vehicles has won the necessary support of EU member states, according to a statement issued by the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as "the European Commission"). Decided to impose tariffs of up to 45% on electric vehicles imported from China. However, the European Commission also said in a statement that the EU and China will continue their efforts to explore alternative solutions. The solution must be in full compliance with WTO regulations, fully address the damaging subsidies identified by the Commission's investigation, and be monitored and enforceable. In other words, even if the proposal to impose tariffs is passed, the European Commission will continue to negotiate with China and continue to review the proposed tariff alternatives.

German Chancellor Schultz said before the vote that Germany opposes EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and that Europe must continue negotiations with China. German Finance Minister Lindner said on the 4th that the European Commission should not trigger a trade war, "We need to negotiate a solution." Earlier, Schultz stressed that the European market must compete on an open and level playing field with Chinese cars. He also warned that Europe would not tolerate dumping, overcapacity and intellectual property infringement. It is reported that Schultz's visit to China was accompanied by senior executives of several important German companies and three ministers.

Electric cars are the future of cars, and the continued collapse in new car sales has also sounded the alarm for the German car market, even if fuel vehicle sales have rebounded, but the outlook for the whole market is not clear. For Germany, the key to the development of electric cars lies in technological innovation. Colleague car companies need to provide more attractive prices and services, and the government should also introduce long-term and stable incentives.

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