Germany’s carmakers are now trying to shift engineering east, both to stay competitive in the Chinese market as well as to integrate technologies developed there into cars sold abroad.
Volkswagen said a year ago that it could now design cars from start to finish in China at its centre in Hefei.
Both BMW and VW have said they hope to export vehicles from China into other parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
The low-cost Volkswagen ID.Every1, slated for European launch in 2027, will meanwhile have an electric motor made in China.
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They went all in on Combustion engines and didn’t see the signs of the time. But China did. Now Everyone is buying Chinese EVs.
Frankly speaking, I think German carmakers are a bit stupid. There’s this huge demand for EVs, but they missed the opportunity. While the Chinese anticipated it and now they get to make profit.
I/we recently had to buy a new car and the option was either go for a somewhat premium SUV or tiny city car, which seems to be the popular choices as of today. And/or use public transport for another 8 months minimum until a car gets delivered… Or go for something else, get the type of car we want and get it right now. Nothing in the process made me think the German car industry wants to make an effort to sell a car to me.
Enshittify your products all the way to Hell and back, and
lobbybribe your way to legally mandated enshittification in the hope Chinese competitors won’t be able to comply, only to find out they are actually capable, because you were stupid enough to teach them your ways by using them for cheap labour to satisfy the boundless greed of your C-suites and shareholders.The German car industry is now eating the soup it has been cooking the previous decades.
It has nothing to do with enshitification and everything to do with betting on technology with no future.
Modern cars are pretty much all enshittified. There’s no way anyone repairs anything but the manufacturer themselves, because there’s proprietary software in every tiny part. They spy on you and your location 24/7. You gotta bring in your car for updates, of course preferably to a licensed partner who paid some 5digit $$ for the software to connect to the car. There’s paid subscriptions for the satnav and more recently for all kinds of shit.
But it’s not like they invented that recently. They’ve always made sure to upsell on some extra add-on packages because every bit of comfort is like 400€ extra so you’d rather just pay a few 1.000 for the entertainment addon, the winter package and the heavy-smoker addon and a driver-assistance XY. Because it’s kinda nice to have a proper cruise control, 12V for camping and a somewhat nice stereo. On the downside you now also got 5 ashtrays, cruise control with 5 bazillion features you never need, and you paid more than you wanted.
The German brands are just at the top of the game and experimenting how much shit still flies with the customers. Reportedly BMW designed custom screws so you need to buy a screwdriver from them as well. Mercedes now has cars you can’t open the hood, because only the repair shop is allowed to access it. And making people subscribe to cruise control and heated seats on a monthly basis is an old trick by now.
BMW designed custom screws so you need to buy a screwdriver from them as well.
They won’t sell you the screwdriver, unless you’re a licensed BMW workshop.
Tja.
Machste nix.
Tja
Ich glaube das echte problem liegt darin, dass in China deutlich günstiger produziert und auch entwickelt werden kann.
Die chinesen sind technisch auf dem gleichen niveau (teilweise besser, teilweise schlechte), aber in DE kann man preislich nicht konkurieren. Soll man jetzt in DE Löhne kürzen, arbeitsicherheit vergessen und auf die Umwelt pfeifen, um mithalten zu können? Das will niemand, wird aber vermutlich schleichend kommen. Tja, das wird bitter werden.
German manufacturers for decades leaned into making their cars unique through engine and driving dynamics.
With EV, the engines are all pretty much the same in behaviour and can be quickly and easily tuned. The chassis has to be completely reimagined to hold the batteries and the massive weight is inescapable, with significant impact on driving dynamics. In a word, EVs are simple appliances.
It’s hard to compete without differentiation, especially when you’ve allowed the competition a decade+ head start.
Japanese carmakers have been largely about building appliances with ICE, and theyre arguably farther behind on electrification than German manufacturers (no, 25 years of mild hybrid doesn’t count), but they do have a rabid following of people who want reliable appliance type cars.
I don’t think that designing and building in China will change the fundamental calculus.
The unions are just as culpable as the leadership, I think. They’re not asking for reskilling or EV focus.
