European Automotive Industry in the Century of Asia

repeatedly identified as a strategic area in its Five-Year Plans since 2001 (Wachtmeister, 2013). Individual government strategies have also demonstrated public support for this focus in recent years. In 2016, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced an automotive development plan called the Technology Roadmap for Energy-Efficient and New-Energy Vehicles (GIZ, 2018). The category of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) includes full-electric battery vehicles (BEVs), fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The objective was to increase total vehicle production in China to 35 million units by 2025, of which the NEVs would account for 15%. By 2030, the share of NEVs in newly produced vehicles will increase to 40%. In October 2021, the Chinese government published two documents to achieve peak greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The former is a set of guidelines for the country’s climate action, and the latter is an action plan for achieving peak emissions. The action plan includes incentives to promote low-emission transport so that the new energy vehicles account for approximately 40% of total new vehicle sales by 2030, and to reduce the carbon emissions from commercial vehicles by approximately 9.5% in 2030 compared to 2020. According to the action plan, much of the government’s support shall be directed at developing charging and refuelling infrastructure (News.cn, 2021). The government of China has been trying to achieve its objectives using various instruments, the most important being subsidies for the purchase of new NEVs and renewed requirements imposed on car manufacturers. China introduced subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles in 2009, but these have been reduced in recent years and will cease altogether from the beginning of 2023. However, the 10% tax exemption on purchasing electric vehicles will remain in place until the end of 2023 (China Dialogue, 2023). Major Chinese cities (necessary for the development of electric mobility) are expected to make it easier for electric vehicles to obtain number plates and to ban combustion engine vehicles from city centres. Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and others have promoted the rapid development of electric vehicles by adopting regulations beyond government institutions and offering financial incentives surpassing government support. As a result, the development of electric vehicles in China is highly uneven and concentrated in large cities. Car manufacturers in China must comply with the terms of the Dual Credit Regulation, which mandates that manufacturers receive positive credits for producing NEVs and, conversely, negative credits for producing internal combustion vehicles. Carmakers can also buy positive credits from their competitors. If a manufacturer has a negative balance at the end of the year, it must pay a fine. Manufacturers are thus incentivised to buy low-emission cars or increase the price of internal combustion vehicles (GIZ, 2018). Considering geopolitical developments, it is essential to highlight that China is a major player in the global battery industry, and targeted support for the development of this industry will enable the rapid development of electromobility in China and beyond (IEA, 2023). In response, the US and EU are currently implementing industry

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