China is said to have a cost advantage of a good 10,000 euros for electric cars

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Car from BYD: Growing competitive pressure for Europe

Photo: Michel Euler/AP

According to a leading automotive supplier, Chinese manufacturers have a cost advantage of 10,000 euros for small electric cars.

The reasons for this include the fact that the development costs in the People's Republic are lower, less capital is used in production and wage costs are also below the European level, said the head of the supplier Forvia, Patrick Koller.

This is likely to pose a greater problem for European automakers than for their rivals in the United States, because Chinese companies' market share there is lower due to tariffs, Koller said.

Good vehicles are being built in China and Europe is unable to stop imports.

Forvia emerged from the merger of the two suppliers Faurecia from France and Hella from Germany and is the world's seventh largest automotive supplier.

The company also supplies customers in China, including the manufacturer BYD.

According to data from the analysis company JATO Dynamics, the average price of a European electric car has risen by almost 7,000 euros to 55,821 euros since 2015, while vehicles in the USA have increased in price by around 10,000 euros to 63,864 euros.

In China, on the other hand, the price fell from 66,819 euros to 31,829 euros – below the price of a comparable petrol engine.

According to the French consulting company Inovev, Chinese manufacturers now have a market share of around 5.8 percent in Europe, and the trend is rising.

ssu/Reuters