Shanghai- After the last year of growth in the world’s largest auto market, China electric car start-ups are now targeting the European market.
However, the Chinese authorities only started peeling back the restrictions on full foreign ownership of local automobile production in the last few years. Over a decade ago, Beijing began to spend which is equivalent to billions of dollars on developing its own electric vehicles.
Currently, it helped local players gain an edge in producing the battery-powered cars that they are now targeting to sell overseas. Soon Goldman Sachs analysts predict that in the last four years, new government policies mean electric cars that will account for a greater share of auto sales in Europe and the U.S., versus China, although it is one of the largest markets.
Nio is listed under the U.S. mentioned that it would be the whole of Europe in the second half of the year. on Monday, the co-founder and president Lihong Qin mentioned that the company is expecting to create an official announcement regarding the expansion within a month. He never named a specific country that states after Europe, Nio is still intending to enter the U.S. market.
During the tensions with U.S. and attempts for sealing an investment deal with Europe, China has exported around 63,500 which is pure battery-powered electric vehicles at the time of the first eleven months of the last year as per the January report from the China Chamber of Commerce for Importing and Exporting of Machinery and Electronic Products. However, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were on the top destinations for Chinese cars overall in the last year. Now, the report noted significant growth in vehicle exports to the U.K., Belgium as well as Germany.
Xpeng, which is listed under the U.S. has already tested waters in Norway where the start-up delivering 100 units of its G3 electrics SUV in the month of December.
In the latter half of this year, Xpeng now hopes that the consumer in northern Europe responding to its P7 electric sedans as per He Xiaopeng who is the chairman and CEO. Currently, he is recruiting new staff and planning to set up a company in the region before taking a look at western and eastern Europe.
On the other hand, another Chinese electric car start-up, Airways mentioned that it exported almost 1,000 vehicles to Israel and Europe in the first half of the three months this year.
Tu Le, founder of Beijing-based advisory firm Sino Auto Insights said, “It’s no secret now that most of the China EV startups have global ambitions. That’ll continue as these companies chase growth and value and see opportunity due to the lack of viable EVs products in the region.”
He also mentioned that with enough local research, some of the Chinese companies may succeed in Europe. Notably, any growth in the Chinese electric car sales to Europe remains a tiny fraction of the market.
Well, China has accounted for less than 2% of the EU’s passengers car imports in the year 2019 and also the 865 million euros in value marks almost 79% growth from the prior year, as per the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.
When compared with EU-owned automobile manufacturers have made around 6 million passenger cars in China in 2018 which is almost a quarter of the total Chinese car production as per the association.
As soon as the market heats up at the home, the Chinese start-up’s ventures overseas come. Nio’s Qin mentioned that the entry of the tech companies like Apple and Huawei into the industry is specifically creating fierce competition for the car markets.
Currently, Tesla is leading the market and also ramping up the local production. Well, its Model 3 was one of the best-selling electric cars in the last year in China, as per the China Passenger Car Association.
By excluding two mini-electric cars, the association mentioned the next best-selling vehicle in the category which was an S model from Aion which is a new energy brand spun-off from the Chinese state-owned automaker GAC. This more expensive model from Nio ranked ninth, whereas Xpeng didn’t make the top ten list.
Aion’s planning department director Qiu Liangping mentioned “Chinese consumers understand new energy vehicles more and more.” For easing the battery charging, he mentioned that Chinese buyers are now looking out for a better driving experience than that of fossil fuel-powered cars and internet-powered features.
This brand even has an eye on the international market as per Qiu. Before the spin-off, Aion and GAC’s Trumpchi brand were already selling the cars in Israel, the Middle East, and South America.
However, the automobile industry is moving further into electric power, traditional U.S. and German car companies are launching their own electric vehicles.
