Share of e-cars imported from China into Germany more than triples

Carmakers are struggling to keep up as China's auto market accelerates towards an electric future

BERLIN (Reuters) - The market share of electric cars shipped to Germany from China more than tripled in the first quarter, the German statistics office said on Friday, a worrying sign for German carmakers struggling to keep up with their fast-moving Chinese peers. From January to March, 28.2 per cent of passenger cars with electric motors imported into Germany came from China, compared with 7.8 per cent in the same quarter the previous year, the office said.

Volkswagen and other carmakers 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 per cent of portable computers imported into Germany, 67.8 per cent of smartphones and telephones, and 39.2 per cent 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 per cent dependent on supplies from China, a December study by DIW research institute found.