2023-09-05 16:14:12
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in front of Mercedes’ Vision One-Eleven at the Munich Motor Show on September 5, 2023 (AFP / CHRISTOF STACHE)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged German automakers on Tuesday not to be intimidated by the rise of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, deeming “stimulating” the competition that is being established with European players.
“Competition should spur us on, but not scare us off,” Scholz said in his opening speech at the Munich Motor Show (IAA), which runs until the end of the week.
A host of Chinese car manufacturers are the stars of this event where they overshadow German manufacturers. Having already supplanted Volkswagen, Mercedes or BMW in the segment of electric motors in China, they now aim to do the same on the European market.
These new players “offer attractive offers at competitive prices”, recognized Mr. Scholz, however convinced that “fair competition stimulates business and stimulates innovation”.
“In the 80s, it was said that Japanese cars were going to invade all other markets; twenty years later, it was cars + made in Korea +; today, it is said to be Chinese electric cars”, said relativized the German Chancellor.
Yet “the international competitiveness of Germany, the country of the automobile, is beyond doubt”, he assured.
“I know of hardly any other site in the world that, in such a small space, has such know-how in car manufacturing, such a density of suppliers and world-leading SMEs, and as much applied research in the automotive field as Germany”, he insisted.
Mr. Scholz responded in particular to the Federation of German Automobile Manufacturers (VDA), whose president had previously warned of the lack of competitiveness, investment and the heaviness of European bureaucracy.
Greenpeace activists protest during Olaf Scholz’s visit to the Munich Motor Show on September 5, 2023 (AFP/CHRISTOF STACHE)
“A lot of investors are turning away from Germany, preferring places where energy prices are cheaper, like the United States which benefits from the IRA (the Inflation Reduction Act, editor’s note). We want to stay here, but we need better,” said Hildegarde Müller.
For his visit to the aisles of the show, Olaf Scholz favored the stands of German manufacturers, such as BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Bosch, Continental or ZF, without stopping at the Chinese manufacturers.
He also boarded a car from the American manufacturer Tesla and visited Samsung as well as the Chinese battery manufacturer CATL which this year opened its first European factory in central Germany.
A handful of activists tried to interrupt his visit, riding in BMW and Mercedes cars or chanting with a megaphone “the party is over”, before being evacuated by security, journalists from the AFP.
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