Almost two thirds of Germans can now imagine buying a car from a Chinese supplier. For electric cars, the value is even higher, as an ADAC survey shows.
BYD, Nio, MG or Aiways: More and more Germans can apparently imagine buying a Chinese car. This was the result of a survey by the General German Automobile Club (ADAC). tagesschau.de is present. Afterwards, 59 percent of those surveyed said that they would be willing to purchase a car from a Chinese provider in the next three years. At first we had the newspapers of the Funke media group reported about it.
Affordable price as a selling point
For the survey, ADAC market and opinion research surveyed 1,079 adult drivers with their main residence in Germany in July. Younger drivers in particular have little skepticism about Chinese brands. 74 percent of 30 to 39 year olds and 72 percent of 18 to 29 year olds could imagine buying a car from a Chinese manufacturer. For those over 70, however, it is only 31 percent.
Somewhat surprisingly, the basic readiness includes all types of drive, the ADAC said. However, the willingness to buy is particularly high at 80 percent among people who plan to buy a fully electric car. In addition, drivers of premium brands are also not averse to buying a Chinese car (60 percent).
83 percent of respondents cited the affordable price as the main reason for buying a Chinese car brand – followed by the innovative technology (55 percent) and the attractive design (37 percent). The automobile club points out that “according to the list price, Chinese vehicles, adjusted for equipment, are actually usually cheaper than cars from European manufacturers.” However, residual values are still difficult to predict and workshop costs are often difficult to calculate.
Cars perform well in tests
General reservations about Chinese vehicles (54 percent), a workshop and dealer network that is too small (40 percent), a lack of quality (39 percent) and data protection (26 percent) were cited as counterarguments. “There are additional uncertainties due to a still small workshop and dealer network and, especially in the case of new, smaller brands, with regard to future spare parts supplies,” says the ADAC.
Chinese cars have recently performed well in car tests. The current models are far from being outdated and unsafe cheap cars, the ADAC announced in April. Quite the opposite: In most models, the battery technology appears to be sophisticated, the range is acceptable and the workmanship quality is solid. Points of criticism are the driver assistance systems and the air conditioning.
The market share of Chinese cars in Europe is still rather low at 1.18 percent in 2023. But the market power for electric cars is growing. Most recently, according to ADAC information, this rose by almost 48 percent.
EU states clear the way for punitive tariffs
Trade figures also show this: According to a recently published PwC study, the German automotive industry’s traditional export surplus in China could already be overturned this year. In 2024, 440,000 vehicles from Chinese manufacturers could be imported into Europe. In comparison, only 325,000 cars from European manufacturers were sold to China.
The majority, 295,000 cars, come from German industry. Last year the ratio was reversed: Europe’s auto industry delivered 350,000 vehicles – including 320,000 German ones – to China, compared to 280,000 cars of Chinese brands that were imported to Europe. Now, in this country alone, four out of ten electric cars came from China between January and April. China’s share of total imports of purely electric cars to Germany rose significantly to 40.9 percent – after 29 percent in 2023.
This Friday, representatives of the EU states decided that the EU Commission can impose punitive tariffs on electric cars from China. She accuses the People’s Republic of heavily subsidizing the entire value chain for electric cars and thus distorting the market. Chinese electric cars are around 20 percent cheaper than models manufactured in the EU. The authority therefore wants to introduce additional tariffs, which in some cases are expected to be more than 35 percent.
With information from Till Bücker, ARD financial editorial team.