The pavilion comprises 17 medium-sized German suppliers. Alongside the German manufacturers, there are also several large supply companies from Germany with their own exhibition stands here in Shanghai. So Germany is offering an exciting overview of the automotive value chain. The extensive competence and strong drive for innovation of the German producers – together with the German supply companies – are making a mark on this trade show. Our companies are now, more than ever, backing electric mobility and digitization, and above all here in China!
The joint presentation by the supply companies is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). We wish to thank AUMA (the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry) and the trade fair service company IMAG once again for their excellent cooperation.
Last year the German automotive industry produced 16.4 million passenger cars worldwide, 11.2 million of them at foreign facilities. Overall, around one car in five built anywhere in the world in 2018 bore a German group badge.
In 2018 the German automotive industry increased its production, sales and market share in China
For the German automotive industry, China is a very important partner – in development, production, sales and cooperative projects.
Since the beginning of this decade, the German manufacturers have almost quadrupled the number of production plants they have in China – from eight to around 30 factories.
Compared with 2010, the Chinese passenger car market has more than doubled – from 11.3 million cars to around 23.3 million cars in 2018. Sales in 2018 actually showed a year-on-year fall for the first time (-4 per cent). But we assume that in the medium-term the Chinese passenger car market will return to a growth phase; the potential has not been exhausted yet – not by a long way.
In this decade, the German manufacturers have kept up with the high speed of growth. Their passenger car sales in China rose from nearly 2 million (in 2010) to a little over 5.2 million cars last year. That is a rise of 7 percent over 2017. So in 2018 we bucked the trend and grew. Our market share reached the record level of 22.4 percent. More than one new car in five sold in China comes from a German brand. We have also got off to a good start in the current year and at present our market share is 23.6 percent.
Right now the Chinese automotive business has shifted down a gear, and during the first two months new car sales fell by 17 percent to 3.2 million passenger cars. Yet it would be a mistake to project a linear continuation of this trend. The Chinese market is much more volatile than the European car market, for instance. Assuming that the trade disputes between the US and China can be resolved constructively, we expect stable development over the year as a whole.
One factor supporting the good position enjoyed by the German automotive industry in China is the fact that most of our cars for China are built here. Passenger car production by our member companies in China has nearly trebled since 2010 – from 1.8 million cars to a good 5.1 million in 2018. In comparison with the previous year (2017), production has been increased by 5 percent.
We welcome the relaxation of regulations governing joint ventures, which will come into effect for the passenger car sector in 2022.
The high level of local production corresponds to the relatively low export figures from Germany to China: in 2018 the number was 287,300 passenger cars.
Furthermore, the value of parts and components imported from China to Germany in 2018 added 15 percent to reach 1.8 billion euros.
SOURCE: VDA
