China-built EVs tripled German market share in Q1

BERLIN -- The market share of electric cars exported to Germany from China more than tripled in the first quarter, a worrying sign for German automakers struggling to keep up with their fast-moving Chinese peers.

From January to March, 28 percent of electric cars imported into Germany came from China, compared with 7.8 percent in the same quarter the previous year, the German statistics office said on Friday.

Volkswagen and other automakers are struggling to keep up as China's auto market, the world's largest, accelerates towards an electric future – leaving established global brands stuck in the slow lane.

"Many products for everyday life, but also goods for the energy transition, now come to a large extent from China," the office said.

For example, 86 percent of portable computers imported into Germany, 68 percent of smartphones and telephones, and 39 percent of lithium ion batteries came from China in the quarter.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government is increasingly wary of China as a strategic rival as well as its largest trading partner since 2016 and has considered a series of steps to reduce dependencies as it reassesses bilateral ties.

In the case of rare earths - essential for the construction of electric cars and wind turbines - Germany and the European Union as a whole are more than 90 percent dependent on supplies from China, a December study by DIW research institute found.