The Chinese automaker will be export world champions for the first time this year, according to the management consultancy AlixPartners. Already in the first quarter China with 1.07 million cars exported Japan with 954,000 cars overtaken, followed by Germany (840,000), South Korea (750,000) and Mexico (741,000). As a production location, sales market and exporter, the People’s Republic is “well on the way to becoming an automotive superpower,” said Alix industry expert Fabian Piontek on Monday.
Domestic manufacturers are expected to produce 10.5 million of the 20.5 million cars sold in China this year – more than half. With electric vehicles the Chinese are also pushing into the world market and are increasingly putting European car manufacturers under pressure in their home markets. According to the Alix study, the global automotive market is growing again, but much more slowly than expected. The draft horse USA. “In the long term, sales figures in Europe will be more than 15 percent below pre-Covid values,” says Piontek.
The time of record profits for German automakers is coming to an end
“The era of record profits by German automobile manufacturers will come to an end,” write the industry experts. In a cooling world market with increasing competition, the pressure on profit margins is increasing. Over the next three to five years, battery costs, which were falling too slowly, dampened the faster increase in sales of electric cars. This prevents cost advantages through large quantities. Raw material costs have also risen again due to the increasing demand from China and “will not return to the pre-Covid level”. In addition, there would be rising capital costs due to the turnaround in interest rates.
Alix restructuring expert Jens Haas expects “further consolidation in the supply industry“. Debt is currently at a record high, while the cost of capital and the need for money for ongoing business and investments are increasing. The chances of raising prices from car manufacturers are slim.