Mercedes chief: Germany cutting economic ties with China ‘unthinkable'
3 Min Read
The CEO of the luxury car maker says that abandoning the Chinese market would pose a great risk to Germany’s production industry.
-
Hubertus Troska, Daimler board member responsible for greater China, attends a world premiere ceremony for the new Mercedes Benz C-Class Long Wheelbase at Auto China 2014 in Beijing, in this April 20, 2014 file picture. (Reuters)
Cutting economic ties with China is “unthinkable” and would subject Germany’s industry to major risks, the president of Mercedes-Benz told Bild am Sonntag as US pressure over its European allies mounts to distance themselves from Beijing.
Ola Kaellenius’ remarks reflect on the company’s financial figures, where, in 2022 alone, 37 percent of Mercedes car sales and 18 percent of its revenues were generated through the Chinese market.
Those numbers are expected to grow even more in the coming years, the president forecasted.
Read more: US spying on talks between German, Chinese militaries: German media
Therefore, he added that decoupling from China is "unthinkable for almost all the 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," Kaellenius told the newspaper.
The Asian giant is currently the world’s largest car market and the world’s second-largest economy.
Two of the top shareholders of the German-made luxury car producers are China’s Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd and Geely Chairman Li Shufu.
"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."
Read more: Borrell says EU should maintain dialogue with China
Germany must seek policy independence on China
China's ambassador to Berlin stressed in January that plans for Germany's tougher China strategy reflect a Cold War mentality that could endanger the cooperation between the second and fourth largest economies of the world.
Responding to media reporting on a Berlin strategy draft revealing that Germany aims to "coordinate its China policy more closely in future with 'like-minded' allies such as the US," the ambassador said that the European country is giving in in its decision-making ability on China to Washington.
The reported draft "is very disconcerting" and looks like "it is guided primarily by ideology" and "not based on the common interests of Germany and China," he told Handelsblatt.
"This suggests that the German government is forfeiting its independence and is instead following the U.S. completely in matters of China policy."
