New electric cars from Volkswagen and other brands produced in China continue to reshape not only the landscape of the EU market, but also Ukraine – in fact, they have already successfully mastered the niche of used ones from the USA, which dominated the Ukrainian market before the war. Every month, the share of Chinese cars among new electric trains reaches 70–85%, reports Forbes with reference to data from the Institute for Automotive Market Research.
A little context
The war and the fuel crisis of 2022, combined with low charging costs and tax breaks (of taxes, only the excise tax for customs clearance – €1 per kWh of battery capacity) did their job, motivating Ukrainians to switch to electric cars even more actively. In 2022, sales of electric vehicles increased by a third, and in 9 months of 2023, Ukrainians bought 24,200 electric vehicles – 60% more than in the whole of 2022. September seemed very fruitful – during the month, 4,298 battery-powered vehicles (BEVs) were added to the Ukrainian vehicle fleet, which is almost three times higher than September 2022, and the leader among new cars was once again the Volkswagen ID.4 electric crossover, which is not officially sold in Ukraine . This is part of a broader problem – European manufacturers are in no hurry to certify more affordable ones, because the Ukrainian market is small and is not a priority for them.
5 most popular new electric vehicles in Ukraine in September 2023
Volkswagen ID.4 – 350 units. Volkswagen ID.6 – 66 units. Toyota bz4x – 51 units; Honda e – 49 units; BYD Yuan Plus – 19 units.
The new Volkswagen ID.4 comes to Ukraine from China (by ship to one of the European ports, and from there by car carrier to Ukraine) along with electric cars of other brands (Nissan, Honda, Toyota, BMW and Audi), this is the so-called “gray” import. which does not contradict the law. As a result, China accounts for 70–85% of new “electric trains” imported monthly by “gray” traders into Ukraine.
China already controls 70-85% of the market for new electric cars in Ukraine. Infographics: Forbes
Director of AUTO-Consulting Oleg Omelnitsky told Forbes that the “gray” share in the market for new passenger cars increased from 3% at the beginning of 2022 to 15% in September 2023, and 95% of the “gray” market consists of sales of electric cars.
Why did this happen?
In addition to the key factors mentioned above (war, the fuel crisis of 2022, low cost of electricity and tax breaks), which determined the Chinese trend in the Ukrainian market for new electric vehicles, several more are the rise in price of logistics and the cost of repairing used cars from the USA, along with the sensational subsidies of the Chinese government, providing a discount of approximately 30% when compared with similar models intended for the EU market. Why should Ukrainians buy a “white” Volkswagen ID.4 from Europe for a conditional $45,000–50,000, if they can buy a Chinese one for $30,000?
In the EU, where the share of electric cars grew to almost 15% by the end of September, Volkswagen and other local manufacturers do not have time to cover the demand for affordable electric cars and are inferior to the Chinese auto industry – about this lag, which could be very costly for European manufacturers, and a potential trade war between the EU and China, by analogy with the confrontation between the USA and China, was mentioned in a recent text about the Citroen e-C3 – this electric cross-hatch for €20+ thousand is actually the new hope of Stellantis (the fourth largest automaker) in the mass segment.
2023-10-24 16:09:44
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