Strong sales figures from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers weighed on the European auto industry on Thursday. Above all, “BYD went full throttle at the end of 2024,” as the experts in the “Bernecker-Daily” stock market newsletter wrote. BYD has set a monthly sales record, albeit strongly boosted by subsidies and additional incentives for buyers, and is likely to outperform its US competitors in the fourth quarter.
Auto sector with significant losses
The Europeans are left behind: Among the weakest sectors, the Stoxx Europa Autos & Parts lost 1.8 percent around midday, continuing its price weakness from last year. In 2024 it had lost 12 percent, while Europe’s stock exchanges in general were able to gain noticeably.
Disappointing economic data China, a market that remains very important for European car manufacturers, had an additional impact on Thursday: The mood in China’s industry had deteriorated in December, which is why stocks like BYD also came under pressure in China.
On Wednesday, car manufacturers from China – above all BYD, but also Li Auto, Nio and Xpeng – announced sales increases for December and the year as a whole.
BYD was the largest among them, reporting a record and reducing its gap to the world’s largest electric car manufacturer Tesla. Overall, the Chinese group increased its sales by more than 40 percent to around 4.3 million plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric cars in 2024. Sales of purely battery-powered cars climbed by around 12 percent to 1.78 million.
Meanwhile, Tesla is presenting disappointing figures for investors. Like the billionaire’s Elon Musk (53)-led company announced on Thursday that almost 1.8 million vehicles were sold in 2024, which corresponds to a decline of 1.1 percent compared to the previous year.
On the first day of the new stock market year, the Dax car manufacturer Porsche AG fell by 1.9 percent to 57.34 euros Volkswagen by 2.4 percent to 86.94 euros. BMW lost 3.1 percent to 76.52 euros and Mercedes-Benz, at the bottom, lost 3.2 percent to 52.08 euros.
Also Renault and Stellantis were weaker than average, with charges of around 1.5 percent each.
Registration restrictions and a weak market
While BYD has become the best-selling car brand in the world alongside Tesla and is also consolidating its place among the world’s top-selling car manufacturers – annual sales are expected to exceed $100 billion for the first time – European car manufacturers are suffering from the structural change towards electromobility.
Development is lagging behind in Europe and electric cars are comparatively too expensive. At the same time, registration restrictions for gasoline and diesel vehicles were imposed in China, which is one of the most important sales markets for European cars, which further increases the pressure. And in the USA, also an important sales market for Europeans, threatens the president-elect (78) again with high import tariffs to advance its “America First” policy.
According to Bank of America, the development towards electromobility will continue to increase in 2025. Analyst Horst Schneider expects a global increase in battery-powered vehicles of 22 percent compared to 2024. The penetration rate of electric cars worldwide would therefore increase from 13 to 16 percent, which, according to him, is primarily due to stricter CO₂ emissions regulations for car manufacturers in Europe and further higher ones This is probably due to e-car sales in China.
According to him, BYD in particular will gain further market share worldwide, as will the other two Chinese manufacturers SAIC and Chery. Tesla is likely to steal market share, especially from its Japanese competitors and also Volkswagen, he expects and adds: “This trend is even clearer if you take China out of the calculation.”