WUHAN, CHINA – MAY 25: (CHINA OUT) Attendees wearing protective masks look around the BMW Ix3 during the 2023 Huazhong International Auto Show in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on May 25, 2023. More than 80 brands are participating in the 2023 Central China International Auto Show, which opened on Thursday. According to local reports, more than 40 electric vehicle brands participated in the exhibition. (Photo by Getty Images)
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german car manufacturer BMW Group He said that diversifying the supply chain away from China does not mean leaving China completely.
“We always try to diversify our risk. It’s not about leaving a country or leaving a specific region,” CEO Oliver Zipse said in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Martin Soong.
“Especially for the BMW Vision Neue Klasse, the production volume will not be small. Therefore, we need large suppliers, and we need more than one anyway,” Zipse said at the Japan Mobility Show 2023. BMW showed off its new electric concept car Vision Neue Klasse, September as it looks like it will take Tesla.
BMW will not leave China, he said, adding that free trade is “the basis of our business model.”
In July, Germany urged companies to “reduce” China risks and warned that Beijing’s economic strategy aimed to reduce dependence on other countries while making international production chains more dependent on China.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said: “For Germany, China is still a partner, a competitor, and a systemic competitor. But the aspect of systemic competition has become more and more prominent in recent years.” Said then.
“This has implications for European and global security,” the German foreign ministry said in a 64-page report.
Earlier this month, the European Union initiated an investigation The EU is subsidizing Chinese-made electric cars exported to Europe after the bloc’s imports of electric cars from China surged.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on September 13 that “the global market is flooded with cheaper electric cars” whose prices are “artificially low” due to “huge state subsidies.”
“If the evidence is conclusive, this may lead the European Commission to impose countervailing duties on EU electric vehicles imported from China to offset state subsidies and create a level playing field,” one person said. Notice Published by the European Commission on October 4.
BMW produces cars, including electric vehicles, in China and exports them to Europe.China has become a Global electric vehicle manufacturing and export center The Center for Strategic and International Studies said that for companies such as BMW and Tesla, they benefit from China’s increasing competitiveness of electric vehicles, production cost advantages and huge production capacity.
In 2022, the German automaker opened a $2.2 billion factory in Shenyang to focus on producing electric vehicles.
BMW makes the iX3 electric car in China and exports it to Europe, and will begin exporting the electric Mini Cooper next year, leaving it vulnerable to possible EU tariffs on imports from China.
In response to the EU investigation, Zipse said BMW was a “global player”.
“We feel at home in Europe. We feel at home in China. We feel at home in the United States. Of course, we feel at home here in Japan. That’s why we are here. We always cultivate and Endorsement. “Global free trade,” Zipzer said.
“The basic principles of an efficient economy and only free trade can truly reduce our impact on the climate – through free trade, technology from around the world, free access to raw materials, and especially the implementation of these principles in all technologies,” Zipzer said .
According to Reuters, BMW Chief Financial Officer Walter Myrtle said he does not support punitive tariffs, arguing that the EU investigation will cause greater harm to automakers doing business in China and protect those that do not have large sales in China. of automobile manufacturers. Report.
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