Another turning point has occurred in the breakthrough of Chinese cars to the West. They can even beat the Koreans in sales, it indicates what can be expected in our country
10 hours ago | Petr Prokopec
Photo: MG Motor
The pride of American, German and now Korean cars is going somewhere into the sunset. Even in Western markets, the Chinese are overcoming one obstacle after another that prevents them from rising to the top. That’s the way it is in Australia, why should it be any different elsewhere?
Just some twenty-five years ago, the European economy was at its peak. However, political leaders have decided that it is necessary to add heat under the boiler and get ahead of the United States, Japan and increasingly prominent China. Unfortunately, however, they already proved at that time that they are out of touch with reality. Instead of taking steps to stimulate industry and technology, it was decided that the old continent would become a global green leader. Basically everything was subsequently subordinated to this mission, however practically all judicial experts were scratching their heads – one senseless act was followed by another, even less meaningful one.
One of the reasons why the so-called Green Agreement could not succeed is the absence or only low stocks of some key commodities. For example, within the framework of lithium, we find Chile in first place with reserves of 9.3 million metric tons, Australia in second place with 6.2 million, Argentina in third place with 2.7 million, China in fourth place with 2 million, and the USA in fifth place with one million and in sixth place Canada with 930 thousand. This is followed by Zimbabwe (310 thousand) and Brazil (250 thousand), and only after that comes the turn of the old continent, of which the richest in this precious metal is Portugal (60 thousand).
European politicians thus began to pour water on the Chinese mill, which does not have the largest reserves of its own, but in the case of refining, it takes care of the processing of almost all the lithium mined around the world. And so it is in the case of other rare metals. In addition, the Chinese market is the largest in the world, which has led many companies to open branches there. In order to avoid paying import duties, they entered into a partnership with one of the local brands. However, most of them were owned by the state, which thus obtained the necessary know-how.
A single generation of wrong decisions really contributed to the devastation of European industry. This is not such a long period of time that one would expect the politicians to come to their senses. But you can beat some people’s heads against a wall from morning to night, and still it won’t break out. And since the Chinese have already indicated that if they have to face high tariffs, they will simply set up factories here and continue to profit from their existing advantage, basically we have no choice but to expect that the situation in Europe will develop in the same way as in Australia .
On the world’s smallest continent, even in 2013, cars made in China were rather rare – only 7,000 cars were sold in twelve months, which corresponded to a 0.6 percent market share. However, last year there were already 193,433 cars, so the Middle Kingdom accounted for a 16 percent share. Moreover, for the first time ever, the Chinese overtook Korea, which has only 161,614 registrations. They lag behind Japan (345,071 cars) and Thailand (264,253 cars), where, for example, the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux or Isuzu D-Max are produced.
However, it is not only about the country of origin, but also about the rise of purely Chinese manufacturers. Such MG, which falls under the state-owned SAIC car company, was still in 2017 in 30th place overall. In 2021, however, it was ninth, and the year before and last year it was seventh. With 29,258 registrations over the past twelve months, the SUV ZS became the fifth best-selling car ever and the best-selling small SUV. In this category, ZS even won for the third time in a row.
Australia is to some extent specific, because the automotive industry there practically does not exist anymore. The market is therefore dependent on imports, which eliminates loyalty to local brands. However, even so, the events on this continent clearly indicate what can be expected in Europe – the Chinese manage to offer more for less, and this is exactly what customers are hearing about today more than ever before. Politicians who fly to Brussels to talk about the green transformation probably won’t be able to do that even after this report.
Australian new car sales in 2023 by country of origin
1. Japan – 345,071 pcs
2. Thailand – 264,253 pcs
3. China – 193,433 pcs
4. Korea – 161 614 ks
5. Germany – 56,850 pcs
6. USA – 35 875 ks
7. Great Britain – 17,898 pcs
8. Mexico – 16 218 ks
9. Spain – 14,421 pcs
10. South Africa – 11,838 pcs
The ZS SUV became the best-selling Chinese car in Australia last year. After all, it also scores points here to a considerable extent, as it has 1,885 registrations in the first eleven months. This makes it number two among small SUVs after the Toyota Yaris Cross. Photo: MG Motor
Sources: FCAI VFACTS, SDA
Petr Prokopec
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2024-01-06 15:45:24
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