Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Volkswagen are losing China’s EV battle as local EV rivals like Xiaomi and Nio race ahead

[Redaktion]

German automakers Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche are losing ground in China's electric-vehicle market as sales decline amid tougher competition and the end of purchase-tax incentives. While Mercedes is increasing local production to cut costs and respond faster to demand, Chinese rivals such as Nio and Xiaomi are targeting rapid growth with popular, locally tailored models.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Mercedes-BMW-Audi-and-Volkswagen-are-losing-China-s-EV-battle-as-local-EV-rivals-like-Xiaomi-and-Nio-race-ahead.1365889.0.html

[Audi]

Audi no longer feels like a premium car brand. They still look good outside, but so cheap inside.. Everything is plastic, Audi logo is just painted, don't know, feels like chinese car rather than german. MB, BMW are also plastic, but still feel better than audi for now.. Anyway, my next car will be the one that has buttons for Temp controls.

[heffeque]

Surprisingly enough, Chinese cars are built with higher quality materials (like using real leather and not synthetic), they're easier to repair (not so over-engineered as German cars are), and are starting to have physical buttons again (mostly due to China's upcoming new laws).

Add to the fact that German cars are way behind in EV technology, are much more expensive, and aren't seen as superior anymore... So they lost China.

If only German manufacturers had seen this coming... (like over a decade ago, but they laughed it off and spent money on trying to avoid EVs from succeeding. Great idea it was! French manufacturers are doing better than German ones for now. Let's see how things evolve.)