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“A pretty brutal space:” Car makers and consumers wrestle with the transition to EVs

Published by
Patrick Halliday
“A pretty brutal space” is how Mercedes Benz CFO Harald Wilhelm describes the state of the world’s electric vehicle market.
There is little doubt a reshuffling is on as consumers respond to cost pressures when making showroom or online purchasing decisions.
Cheaper EV’s are coming to the rescue for millions of buyers wishing to avoid the rising costs at the fuel bowser. In EV hesitant Japan, tiny kei cars are carving out a niche as they account for about 1 in 50 cars sold. Japan’s automakers could describe their position as keeping all options open.
Across the Pacific, the US is at the tail end of strikes that are inextricably linked with the rise of electric mobility. Battery electric vehicle sales in the U.S. hit 7.9% of new car sales in Q3 2023, up from 7.2% in Q2. But Ford and GM are now hedging their bets on EVs, uncertain about how to ever make a profit building electric cars.
While Tesla remains the EV of choice in the U.S. a range of other automakers are making healthy sales gains. Volvo is growing rapidly, as is Hyundai and even Mercedes is having a decent time in the U.S.
In a market that expects to sell about 15.4 million cars this year high single digit numbers for EV’s is respectable and indicates the leap from early adopters to mid market is getting closer.
Europe is humming along, and in France the latest data shows that 26% of new cars are full battery electric vehicles. In France the Dacia Spring is number 1, followed by Tesla Model 3 then the Renault Megane, with local brands putting up a good fight.
While not quite so buoyant the big markets of Germany, the U.K, Spain, and Italy all have growing markets and solid local representation. The German uber cars like the BMW i5 are finding plenty of homes.
India, the world’s fourth largest auto market by volume is lagging seriously with EV sales sitting at about 1% this year. This week residents of New Delhi are breathing some of the world’s most polluted air.
A faster transition to more electric two wheel, three wheel, and four wheel vehicles looks like an opportunity for India. Indian manufacturers including Tata motors, Mahindra & Mahindra have a big opportunity ahead but are a long way behind their big neighbour China
China, meanwhile, continues to dominate the ecosystem for battery production and the next step of putting batteries into vehicles. BYD dominates pure electric vehicles sales with an electric market share of 30.15%, followed by Tesla with 14.63%. VW, Toyota, and Honda all noted lower sales.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe noted how competitive home grown brands are, mentioning Li Auto, Nio, and Xpeng sounds a little in awe of competitors. He notes “They’re all beautiful. All of these vehicles are so beautiful. Go to China”- not exactly the words of a CEO ready to take on the big Chinese brands

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