Germany’s carmakers are now trying to shift engineering east, both to stay competitive in the Chinese market as well as to integrate technologies developed there into cars sold abroad.
Volkswagen said a year ago that it could now design cars from start to finish in China at its centre in Hefei.
Both BMW and VW have said they hope to export vehicles from China into other parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
The low-cost Volkswagen ID.Every1, slated for European launch in 2027, will meanwhile have an electric motor made in China.
Frankly speaking, I think German carmakers are a bit stupid. There’s this huge demand for EVs, but they missed the opportunity. While the Chinese anticipated it and now they get to make profit.
I/we recently had to buy a new car and the option was either go for a somewhat premium SUV or tiny city car, which seems to be the popular choices as of today. And/or use public transport for another 8 months minimum until a car gets delivered… Or go for something else, get the type of car we want and get it right now. Nothing in the process made me think the German car industry wants to make an effort to sell a car to me.