D he German automakers are becoming increasingly dependent on the Chinese market. Last year Volkswagen sold two out of five cars in China, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Center for Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach. Audi Every third sold there, BMW every fourth and Daimler every fifth. According to CAM director Stefan Bratzel, this entails considerable risks.
The CAM examined the sales figures of 20 automakers in key markets. By far the largest was the Chinese market. Last year, 28 percent of all cars were sold there.
Volkswagen is the leader with a market share of 17.3 percent and sold 4.18 million cars, closely followed by the US manufacturer General Motors with 16.7 percent market share. GM is even more dependent on the Chinese market than VW: 42 percent of all GMs in the world were sold in China.
Audi, Daimler and BMW each sold around 590,000 cars, which corresponds to a market share of 2.5 percent. Daimler was able to increase its sales by a quarter compared to the previous year, BMW by one sixth. Audi, on the other hand, stagnated, which according to Bratzel was also due to power struggles with Chinese dealers.
Risky dependence on China
With a strong presence in China, brands could benefit more than average from growth and hide weaknesses in other regions, Bratzel said. “However, global manufacturers also take high risks when the dominant sales market is in turbulence.” Manufacturers who are well-balanced and active in many markets and able to respond quickly to changes are successful in the long term.
An example is the Japanese manufacturer Toyota, which sells a quarter of its cars in the United States, a fifth in its home market Japan, and 13 percent in China. Toyota is also strong in Southeast Asia, but less in Europe. Due to its broad positioning, Toyota is less dependent on demand fluctuations in individual countries than VW. VW is fully committed to China and has almost doubled its sales there since 2011.
Even more balanced is the Korean manufacturer Hyundai, which sold 17 percent of its cars in the United States, 14 percent in Europe and 17 percent in China. However, the worldwide sales of Koreans stagnated last year.