> FRANKFURT, April 30 (Reuters) – Cutting economic ties with China is unrealistic, the chief executive of luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) told tabloid newspaper Bild am Sonntag, and said attempting to do so would put most of Germany’s industry at risk.
>
> Europe is trying to reduce its dependency on China as the disruption of the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have highlighted the dangers of relying on dominant suppliers and the fragility of supply chains.
>
> But Ola Kaellenius said decoupling from China, the world’s second largest economy, was “unthinkable for almost all of German industry”.
>
> “The major players in the global economy, Europe, the U.S. and China, are so closely intertwined that decoupling from China makes no sense,” he was quoted as saying.
>
> German carmakers depend on the Chinese car market, the world’s largest, and Mercedes-Benz counts China’s Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (1958.HK) and Geely Chairman Li Shufu as its two top shareholders.
>
> China accounted for 18% of revenues and 37% of car sales at Mercedes-Benz in 2022 and Kaellenius predicted more to come.
>
> “Our sales figures in China are increasing and I am quite optimistic that we will also grow this year. During the corona years, the wealthier Chinese in particular made extraordinary savings,” Kaellenius said. “This purchasing power should benefit us.”
Company that has had tremendous success in China claims it cannot cut ties with the country; additional news at 9.
The sales figures in China are rising, so I have high hopes for our own growth this year. The more affluent Chinese in particular made extraordinary savings during the corona years, according to Kaellenius.
The ability to buy should be advantageous to us.
​
For the record, we need to know where this guy’s head is.
Because of this, we’ll either have to start applying pressure to western corporations to decouple or take a pass and let China develop.
The only issue a company can solve would be the supply chain for non chinese operations. And just because of what we saw with covid I dont see how companies wont try to diversify their supplychains, even if its just for redundancy.
The sales numbers in china seem pretty pointless in that discussion. You dont gain anything if you exit the chinese market early out of fear that you will eventually lose access to the chinese market lol.
It almost seems like these businesses should FUCKING START after reading the writing on the wall. There is constant tension with China. They have the ability to gradually shift production away from China, but they refuse to take any action, keeping everyone in a constant state of “but we can’t cut ties, we’re too dependent!”
Although learned helplessness is a b*tch, western businesses that refuse to lessen their reliance on China are even bigger b*tches.
German industry is neck deep in china , they need the Chinese market more than the Chinese market needs the German market
They will never go against Chinese interests unless the EU forces them to
All i have read is: I don’t have morality, all i want is money and power.
China is a huge market for MB.
So funny as China is about to eat your lunch with cheap EV imports. Keep an export market and lose domestic market.
They’re gonna cry for subsidies once the next crisis will hit. Because how could anyone have known…
outside of greed, why not ?
Yeah Germany get closer and closer to China….. kinda like how Germany got closer and closer to Russia…
Well I’m gonna need you to think a little harder then buddy.
People told the same shit before Russias invasion about russian business. Better do your risk management right and prepare for such a very realistic scenario.
Never learning west. Ok. Continue to suck Chinese d@#k. Don’t complain in future.
If China fucks up with Taiwan, you’ll quickly see how much it is not only thinkable but going to become your new reality of living WITHOUT China’s factories Mr Benz…you better start planning for alternatives because everybody sees the shitstorm coming from far away…
The hard truth is, that companies now aim to please the chinese customer’s taste. It’s a monumental change as the business decisions no longer can honor the North American cultural hegemony.
China’s wealth is moving so fast, that the time where you can flex your Benz and BMW just because its considered a luxury brand somewhere else is gone.
Now the German cars must have this “cheap chinisum” look the customer wants. So there are screens, piano black finished plastic and LED lights everywhere.
18 comments
In case of paywall:
> FRANKFURT, April 30 (Reuters) – Cutting economic ties with China is unrealistic, the chief executive of luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) told tabloid newspaper Bild am Sonntag, and said attempting to do so would put most of Germany’s industry at risk.
>
> Europe is trying to reduce its dependency on China as the disruption of the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have highlighted the dangers of relying on dominant suppliers and the fragility of supply chains.
>
> But Ola Kaellenius said decoupling from China, the world’s second largest economy, was “unthinkable for almost all of German industry”.
>
> “The major players in the global economy, Europe, the U.S. and China, are so closely intertwined that decoupling from China makes no sense,” he was quoted as saying.
>
> German carmakers depend on the Chinese car market, the world’s largest, and Mercedes-Benz counts China’s Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (1958.HK) and Geely Chairman Li Shufu as its two top shareholders.
>
> China accounted for 18% of revenues and 37% of car sales at Mercedes-Benz in 2022 and Kaellenius predicted more to come.
>
> “Our sales figures in China are increasing and I am quite optimistic that we will also grow this year. During the corona years, the wealthier Chinese in particular made extraordinary savings,” Kaellenius said. “This purchasing power should benefit us.”
Company that has had tremendous success in China claims it cannot cut ties with the country; additional news at 9.
The sales figures in China are rising, so I have high hopes for our own growth this year. The more affluent Chinese in particular made extraordinary savings during the corona years, according to Kaellenius.
The ability to buy should be advantageous to us.
​
For the record, we need to know where this guy’s head is.
Because of this, we’ll either have to start applying pressure to western corporations to decouple or take a pass and let China develop.
The only issue a company can solve would be the supply chain for non chinese operations. And just because of what we saw with covid I dont see how companies wont try to diversify their supplychains, even if its just for redundancy.
The sales numbers in china seem pretty pointless in that discussion. You dont gain anything if you exit the chinese market early out of fear that you will eventually lose access to the chinese market lol.
It almost seems like these businesses should FUCKING START after reading the writing on the wall. There is constant tension with China. They have the ability to gradually shift production away from China, but they refuse to take any action, keeping everyone in a constant state of “but we can’t cut ties, we’re too dependent!”
Although learned helplessness is a b*tch, western businesses that refuse to lessen their reliance on China are even bigger b*tches.
German industry is neck deep in china , they need the Chinese market more than the Chinese market needs the German market
They will never go against Chinese interests unless the EU forces them to
All i have read is: I don’t have morality, all i want is money and power.
China is a huge market for MB.
So funny as China is about to eat your lunch with cheap EV imports. Keep an export market and lose domestic market.
They’re gonna cry for subsidies once the next crisis will hit. Because how could anyone have known…
outside of greed, why not ?
Yeah Germany get closer and closer to China….. kinda like how Germany got closer and closer to Russia…
Well I’m gonna need you to think a little harder then buddy.
People told the same shit before Russias invasion about russian business. Better do your risk management right and prepare for such a very realistic scenario.
Never learning west. Ok. Continue to suck Chinese d@#k. Don’t complain in future.
If China fucks up with Taiwan, you’ll quickly see how much it is not only thinkable but going to become your new reality of living WITHOUT China’s factories Mr Benz…you better start planning for alternatives because everybody sees the shitstorm coming from far away…
The hard truth is, that companies now aim to please the chinese customer’s taste. It’s a monumental change as the business decisions no longer can honor the North American cultural hegemony.
China’s wealth is moving so fast, that the time where you can flex your Benz and BMW just because its considered a luxury brand somewhere else is gone.
Now the German cars must have this “cheap chinisum” look the customer wants. So there are screens, piano black finished plastic and LED lights everywhere.