De Meo said as part of the French carmaker’s drive toward price parity with the Chinese, its R5 EV due out next year will be 25% to 30% cheaper than its electric Scenic and Megane models.
About 41% of exhibitors at this year’s Munich event are headquartered in Asia, with double the number of Chinese companies attending, including BYD, Xpeng and battery maker CATL (300750.SZ).
“The base car market segment will either vanish or will not be done by European manufacturers,” BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said on Sunday evening in reference to China’s push into Europe.
Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) will present its CLA compact class and BMW (BMWG.DE) its Neue Klasse, both targeting higher range and efficiency while halving production costs.
Xpeng President Brian Gu said while European carmakers currently lag behind China, they have made a “huge commitment” to EVs with partnerships and large investments in technology.
Chinese battery makers setting up in Germany are helping to lower EV costs and German politicians need to make sure they are “not driven out of the country with stupid decoupling strategies,” Dudenhoeffer added.
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