China Shock 2.0: How Can the German Automotive Industry Respond?

China’s rise as an automotive powerhouse is reshaping competitive dynamics in the global car industry and challenging one of the pillars of Germany’s economy. Chinese EV manufacturers are expanding their technological capabilities, scaling production at remarkable speed, and entering European markets with highly competitive prices and rapidly improving quality. At the same time, German automakers remain deeply tied to China for sales, production, and innovation. As geopolitical tensions grow and industrial policies become more assertive, German automakers face pressure to adapt their business operations and long-term strategies. How serious is the challenge posed by rising Chinese competition for German manufacturers and suppliers? Where do German automakers and suppliers continue to hold a competitive edge? Where can German and Chinese automakers and suppliers continue to cooperate? And what role should German and European economic policy play in maintaining competitiveness and technological leadership, while safeguarding openness?

Program

The event consists of two impulse lectures followed by a discussion.  

The Global China Conversation #50 will be held in English.

Attendance is possible online via Zoom or in Berlin (Representation of the State Government Schleswig-Holstein (In den Ministergärten 8-10, 10117 Berlin) as part of the 3rd Kiel-Göttingen-CEPR Conference.

Manuel Kallweit

Manuel Kallweit, born in 1983 in Eisenach, studied economics in Würzburg and Barcelona. After completing his doctorate at the Chair of Financial Sciences at the University of Würzburg, he worked for four years on the scientific staff of the German Council of Economic Experts. Since 2015, he has headed the Economic Intelligence & Economics department at the VDA. In this role, he is responsible for, among other things, monitoring, analysing and forecasting the automotive markets and the automotive industry worldwide, dealing with the transformation of the automotive industry and analysing political and regulatory influences.

Karoline Rogge

Karoline Rogge is Professor of Sustainability Innovation and Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, where she is also affiliated with the Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy Acceleration. She is also Deputy Head of the Department Policy and Society at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her interdisciplinary research lies at the intersection of innovation, policy and sustainability, with particular attention to policy mixes for and actor strategies in accelerating net-zero energy-mobility transitions in Europe, the US and China.

Sander Tordoir

Sander Tordoir is chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. Sander works on eurozone fiscal policy, the institutional architecture of EMU and EU trade and industrial policy. Prior to joining the CER, Sander worked as an advisor to the ECB Representative at the International Monetary Fund, covering the IMF’s surveillance of eurozone policies and sovereign debt issues. Before his posting in Washington, he was an economist in the ECB’s EU Institutions and Fora Division, where he focused on the EU’s policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic, economic and fiscal governance, ESM reform and the ECB’s relations with other institutions. 

Julia Fiedler

Julia Fiedler is Senior China Editor at Table.Briefings. She studied Regional Studies of East Asia / Focus on China in Cologne, with an emphasis on Chinese legal culture, and has studied and worked in Kunming and Beijing. Since 2022, she has been part of the China.Table team and focuses primarily on topics related to the economy and the automotive industry. Previously, Julia Fiedler worked at the Axel Springer publishing house as well as a TV journalist, including at n-tv.