The exposure of European car manufacturers to China continues to be a danger for their businesses following the tariffs that the European Commission intends to apply on imports of electric vehicles from the Asian giant.
The industry has been warning in recent months of the danger of these commercial obstacles for the future of its operations in Asia, being German manufacturers most exposed to a possible tariff warOh, consequently, those who demand a solution as soon as possible.
Mercedes Benz It is one of the automobile companies with the highest percentage of business in China. The Asian giant and the region represent a third of vehicle sales for the German manufacturer of the premium segment, that is, one in every five cars sold by the brand in China are imported from Germany, according to its latest annual results.
Specific, The Daimler group brand exports models such as the S-Class and the Maybach to China, while the mid-range models are produced locally.so the latter would not be affected by the proposals of the European Executive.
On the other hand, The BMW group generates almost a third of unit sales in China, although according to its latest resultsonly 13% of registrations come from imported carsmainly, the most expensive ones.
The German company has a 75% stake in a joint venture with China Brilliance Automotive that produces cars for the Germans to sell in China and the electric iX3 for export to Europe. In this case, this last model could be affected by community tariffs.
In this case, within the group’s strategic plan it is expand market share in China to 15% by 2030 and reduce costs by 40% to be able to compete in a better position with Chinese brands.
In fact, BMW and Volkswagen have created a joint venture with SAIC Motor in recent months for the production of electric vehicles in Shanghai through which they will invest more than 4,675 million euros to expand local development and production.
The case is worse porsche since the luxury car manufacturer records almost 25% of its sales in China, At least, this was the case during the first quarter of 2024 and all of them with imported vehicles manufactured in Europe, according to Europa Press.
At the same time, the Swedish Volvo has 4% of Chinese sales coming from imports and 10% of its profits recorded in the Asian giant.
With respect to Stellantisthe group has a smaller regional exposure although it already is considering bringing to Europe the manufacturing of some of the Leapmotor models that they want to begin marketing in 2026.
“Leapmotor cars can be assembled at any Stellantis plant around the world, as long as it makes economic sense and production of certain models will be moved to Europe,” manufacturer sources have confirmed.
Another of the brands of the European group, the Italian luxury Ferrari sells 9% of its vehicles in China, all imported.
In the case of Renault, with the lowest exposure of any European company to China, operates in the Asian country through two joint ventures such as Jiangling Motors and Brilliance Auto as well as Nissan that holds a market share of up to 3%according to the latest records.
Furthermore, at the beginning of May, Renault signed an alliance with Geely for the creation of Horsea joint venture for the manufacture of hybrid and combustion engines to serve the demand of manufacturers, mainly from emerging markets.
In the last week, BMW shares have lost almost 4% of their market value, while Mercedes-Benz has lost 2% and Porsche has plummeted more than 6%. The Volkswagen group (-6.43%), Stellantis (-5.01%) and Renault (-4.99%) have not escaped losses.
