Would Be ‘Very Damaging’ For Germany Or EU To Seek To Decouple From China
“On the political side we need cooperation, dialogue, international collaboration and an expansion of our economic relations”
Volkswagen Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group & CEO Herbert Diess says:
It would be very damaging if Germany or the EU wanted to decouple from China. As a global company, we will never stop advocating for globalization, a multi-lateral rules-based trading system and engagement. Moreover, We will only keep pace with innovations if we face the competition in the Chinese market. Once a year at the #GCC the Chinese government is organizing a dialogue with CEOs from around the world – a really unique and great format. It underlined that China is and will be the technology driver.
Some facts that show how important China is for us:
This year, the Chinese car market as a whole grew only slightly by 4.4% percent. We lost market share due to the semiconductor crisis – but thanks to our sales optimization, we still achieved a good result.
The Chinese government will continue to promote employment and consumption through expansive financial policies – and e-cars in particular. A doubling of the NEV market is targeted for 2022. We have launched the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.6 this year, and we have significantly raised our sales target for next year. In addition, the Audi Q4 etron will follow. 80 percent of our marketing takes place on social media: The much younger customers who find new Chinese brands cool are finding Volkswagen IDs in new sales formats in city centers and massively on social media. Timely, right and a successful move. We are getting faster!
It was a good year after all-important profits to drive the transformation to #NEWAUTO. We are strongly positioned!
But we have to use the Chinese speed and local technology platforms to remain worldwide relevant in #NEWAUTO! On the political side we need cooperation, dialogue, international collaboration and an expansion of our economic relations.
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Diess shared a LinkedIn post on December 21, 2021, stating some facts that demonstrate the importance of China and the need for more cooperation and presence in China, not less!
Featured Image: LinkedIn/Herbert Diess
The authors’ views are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of nagaaffairs.org