A new innovation ranking from the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach shows how strong Chinese car manufacturers are now in terms of innovation. According to the study, “Chinese automobile manufacturers are increasingly dominating global electromobility in terms of innovation.” The evaluation of a total of 512 individually evaluated series innovations from 2023 showed that Chinese manufacturers account for 45 percent of the global innovative strength. The German manufacturers VW, BMW and Mercedes together account for 20 percent. The Chinese companies Geely, SAIC and BYD were among the companies with the strongest growth.
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Volkswagen is now hoping for help from the Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng in this situation. Last year, the Wolfsburg-based company bought five percent of the electric car start-up founded in 2014 for $700 million. VW now wants to invest several billion euros in the joint development of electric cars. The main aim of the collaboration is to reduce costs. Volkswagen announced this week that an electric car architecture developed specifically for China will reduce the number of vehicles by 40 percent compared to German technology. Two models based on the new technology are scheduled to come onto the market from 2026. The new vehicle architecture is a crucial step in developing China-specific vehicles and advancing the “In China, for China” strategy, said Brandstätter.