In the world’s largest car market China deliveries also fell in July. Last month, passenger car deliveries to end customers fell by 5 percent to 1.73 million cars compared to the same month last year, according to the industry association PCA (China Passenger Car Association) on Wednesday based on preliminary figures in Beijing. The world’s largest car market had already recorded a slight minus in June. The background is that in mid-2022 the government in Beijing had boosted the purchase of cars with subsidies after the Covid pandemic had previously weighed on the economy of the People’s Republic.
The industry association had already forecast a decline of around 5 percent for the month at the end of July. Electric cars, on the other hand, continue to get a strong boost. According to the PCA, the number of cars with alternative drive systems delivered increased by a third compared to the same month last year to 647,000 vehicles. With the current development of sales, industry experts expect that electric cars will soon overtake combustion engines in the People’s Republic.
German providers have a hard time in China
More than half of all pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the world are already driving on Chinese roads. According to an analysis by the Stuttgart research institute ZSW, the number of vehicles there had climbed to 14.6 million by the turn of the year. That is 53 percent of the 27.7 million electric vehicles worldwide according to ZSW.
Delivery figures from China are also for the German manufacturers Volkswagen (included Audi and Porsche), bmw and Mercedes-Benz are particularly important, as the country is generally their largest single market. In the rapidly growing business with electric cars, however, German providers have a difficult time there.
The Wolfsburg core brand VW passenger cars, for example, lost the title of market leader in China, which it had held for decades, to the electric car manufacturer this year BYD hand over. VW China board member Ralf Brandstätter (54) should succeed in turning manager magazin accompanied him.
With a stake in the Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng, VW wants to help its weakening electric car business in the world’s largest car market to get back on its feet. The Wolfsburg-based company wants to acquire almost five percent of the Xpeng shares for 700 million US dollars and develop two electric mid-range cars for the People’s Republic with the Chinese
Audi is also struggling with problems in China. The carmaker wanted to sell 1.3 million cars there in 2030. But the sales figures have stagnated since 2018, last year Audi got rid of only 640,000 vehicles. So that Audi can also turn the corner, the new boss Gernot Döllner (54) wants to streamline the model offensive and increase the pace in the Middle Kingdom, reports manager magazine.