Electric cars: Chinese manufacturers arrive with force at the Munich fair

Chinese manufacturers and their models of electric cars They will be in force at the Munich Motor Show (IAA), which seeks to further explore all forms of “mobility”, in the face of environmental criticism.

The traditional appointment of the German automobile sector, which will be inaugurated on Tuesday by the head of the government Olaf Scholz, will be held in a gloomy economic context.

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The war in Ukraine, the slowdown in Chinese growth and high inflation in the Eurozone have an impact on the automobile sector, a key market for the European industry, and especially Germany.

Although car sales in the European Union (EU) have increased over the past twelve months, they are still more than 20% below their 2019 level, before the covid-19 pandemic.

Incumbent manufacturers face increasingly strong Chinese competition, threatening their dominant position in the future electric car market.

in this edition of the IAA, sums up Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, an expert at the Center Automotive Research in Germany.

“The competition is getting tougher,” he stresses.

The international motor show @IAAmobility 2023 starts on September 5 in Munich and @BMWGroup is ready to present its pioneering technological innovations in urban mobility #sustainable and the transformation of its family of brands: https://t.co/VoZFQTNXaT… pic.twitter.com/8PYxcJnB9G

— BMW Group Latin America (@BMWGroupLatam) September 1, 2023

Among the exhibitors, 41% are based in China. And several Chinese automakers, including BYD and Leapmotor, could steal the spotlight from Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes.

Stellantis will only be represented by its German brand Opel, while for the Renault group, only the namesake brand makes the trip to reveal its new Scenic.

Elon Musk’s group “little by little aligns itself with the automotive sector, and the company that never did marketing is starting to do so,” Matthias Schmidt, an independent industry analyst in Germany, told AFP.

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German manufacturers, national pride for a long time but weakened today, will be present. They will try to convince by highlighting their electric models against the Asian competition.

Faced with the loss of purchasing power of consumers due to inflation, interest in low-end electric models is increasing. Mercedes will present an electric car concept in this segment.

BMW will give more details about its new range of vehicles designed from the future “Neue Klasse” electrical architecture, announced two years ago for production in 2025.

environmentalists protest

Ecological issues are another priority of the meeting, a biennial event for the sector, but also for its detractors, in a context in which the groups show exceptional profits, driven by inflation.

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Manufacturers, especially in the high-end, took advantage of higher prices to inflate their profit margins.

Some 1,500 people are expected to set up camp for the mobility revolution in a park on the outskirts of Munich.

The car manufacturers “with their forced growth destroy the lives of many people in the world”, accuse environmentalists.

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The previous edition was already marred by various demonstrations.

In total, some 700,000 visitors are expected, up from 410,000 in 2021.

Renamed IAA Mobility in 2021, when it moved from Frankfurt to Munich, the organizers highlight the “mobility, durability and technology” of the fair, rather than the car as such.

With this new strategy, the aim is to counteract the weight loss of the large car shows, where companies no longer make a profit, especially in terms of advertising.

In 2022, the Automobile World Cup in Paris, reduced to one week instead of two in previous editions, attracted only 400,000 visitors, compared to one million in 2018. Many groups, such as Volkswagen, BMW or Ferrari did not attend, contrary to Chinese companies, such as BYD.

Source: Elcomercio

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