But politicians have failed to take consumers, i.e. motorists, into account. In 2023, electric vehicles accounted for just 14.61% of new registrations in Germany – boosted by government subsidies. Car owners will realise that this is a miscalculation at the latest when they come to sell their electric cars. The used car market for electric vehicles is virtually non-existent, probably due in part to uncertainty about the remaining life of the batteries. As a result, dealers are left with countless leased cars that are practically unsellable.
If European climate policy remains unchanged, the end of combustion engines will be virtually decreed by law. The automotive baton will inevitably be handed over to China in the coming years. The Land of the Rising Sun has much lower energy costs, significantly lower wage levels and a sufficient labour force. Lithium, the most important raw material for batteries, is mined domestically and does not have to be purchased at high prices on the world market. In addition, electric cars require far fewer high-tech components than combustion engines, which means that a great deal of European know-how and countless patents will come to nothing.
European cars have been exported to China for decades. This flow of goods is now reversing. The giant Chinese car manufacturer BYD recently put its first cargo ship into service, which can hold around 3,000 vehicles and was built for shuttle traffic to Europe. Another 200 ships are to follow. This will enable BYD to ship 600,000 electric cars to Europe once all ships are in operation. A freighter takes approximately three months per trip for the round trip, including loading and unloading. This means that BYD alone can ship approximately 2.4 million cars per year to Europe with its own fleet. By way of comparison, around 4 million cars were built in Germany in 2023.
And BYD is not alone. Great Wall Motors, SAIC, Changan, Dongfeng, Xpeng Motors and NIO are pushing into the electric car market, to name but a few. Matthias Weik (bestselling author of „Die Crash ist die Lösung“ [The Crash is the Solution]) is already singing the requiem for European car manufacturers. According to Weik, Opel will be the first to disappear from the market within the next ten years, followed by VW, Citroën, Renault, Peugeot and Seat. Weik believes that only luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari and a few others have a chance of survival. 138 years of automotive history in Germany – what was once a key industry could become a marginal phenomenon. Incidentally, around 774,000 people work in the German automotive industry (2022), not including suppliers.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobilindustrie#Autoindustrie_in_Deutschland
