BMW's Sales Chief Lowers Expectations with Chinese Brands: "We Don't Want Smartphones on Wheels"
Chinese manufacturers and their affordable vehicles, including electric ones, are just starting in Europe, so to speak, but the forecasts are very promising. However, for BMW, it's not that much, especially for two reasons.
The European automotive market is going through a crucial moment, with electric technology gaining presence (little by little) and Chinese brands gaining ground on Western ones (also little by little). Manufacturers like BYD or MG are increasing their presence here, and expectations are that the trend will continue to rise.
Not even the protectionist tariffs imposed by the European Commission last year are slowing their expansion, while some brands like the aforementioned BYD are about to start their production on European soil, specifically in Hungary.
Many believe that the Chinese will end up "eating" the electric car market in Europe, as they already do in their local market. However, a senior BMW executive lowers expectations, despite the fact that Chinese brands already represent 5.2 percent of sales in Western Europe this year, compared to 3.1 percent the previous year.
"They Build Good Cars," But…
The protagonist of the latest statements is Jochen Goller, head of sales at BMW. The German, in a parallelism that reminds us of the arrival of Japanese and South Korean brands in Europe, acknowledges that Chinese brands are making "good cars" and does not deny what is evident: that they will cut market share from Western brands and others, like Japanese and South Korean ones, in Europe.
Nevertheless, Goller points to two factors that will rise as major difficulties to achieve the same power as in China, where new energy vehicles (electric and PHEV) already represent half of the market, with local manufacturers playing a major role.
On one hand, the Bavarian brand executive refers to the price increases that Chinese brands have to face in our region. Chinese manufacturers have strong support and subsidies from their government, and the growing internal competition has plunged them into overproduction and a price war that "forces" them to offer very low prices.
Additionally, the production costs there are lower than those that BYD, Xpeng, Chery, or CATL, to name a few, will find when they start manufacturing in Europe. While it is true that even exporting them from China, many brands offer very attractive prices here, the advantages of these manufacturers do not apply with the same intensity.
The second factor mentioned by BMW's sales chief relates to European public preferences. It is true that current Chinese cars are being designed more with the drivers of the Old Continent in mind, but they are still far from having the same reputation or ride quality, for example, as what BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes, Volvo, and others offer.
Next-generation Chinese cars are considered "smartphones on wheels", with a high technological load on board and really competitive prices. However, Goller believes that European customer preferences and priorities do not precisely point to this factor of digitization and cutting-edge technology.
That doesn't mean BMW is giving up on next-generation technology, as we saw in the recently presented Neue Klasse with the new iX3, the Germans have raised the bar in every sense, including technological.
Moreover, the Munich brand has established important alliances with Chinese brands in this field, such as Alibaba or Huawei, in addition to developing specific products for China, which remains its main individual market. But that is another topic.
Fuente: Autocar
