Share of e-cars imported from China into Germany more than triples

The market share of electric cars shipped to Germany from China more than tripled in the first quarter, the German statistics office said on Friday, a worrying sign for German carmakers struggling to keep up with their fast-moving Chinese peers.

From January to March, 28.2% of passenger cars with electric motors imported into Germany came from China, compared with 7.8% in the same quarter the previous year, the office said.

Volkswagen and other carmakers are struggling to keep up as China’s auto market, the world’s largest, accelerates towards an electric future – leaving established global brands stuck in the slow lane.

“Many products for everyday life, but also goods for the energy transition, now come to a large extent from China,” the office said. For example, 86% of portable computers imported into Germany, 67.8% of smartphones and telephones, and 39.2% of lithium-ion batteries came from China in the quarter.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is increasingly wary of China as a strategic rival as well as its largest trading partner since 2016, and has considered a series of steps to reduce dependencies as it reassesses bilateral ties.

This report’s information was first seen on ZAWYA; to read more, click this link.