1月21日，马来西亚最著名的英文报纸The Star（《星报》）开设的“人类命运共同体”主题专栏“On A Shared Future”，发表了人类命运共同体墨西哥研究中心主任、墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯大学“中国-韦拉克鲁斯”研究中心主任阿尼巴·卡洛斯·索特雷（Anibal Carlos Zottele）教授的文章Why Western Carmakers Are Losing Ground to China。以下转载全文。
Why Western Carmakers Are Losing Ground to China
By Anibal Carlos Zottele
AS geopolitical tensions dominate headlines — from Greenland to Ukraine —a quieter but equally consequential shift is unfolding in the global economy.
The centre of gravity of the global automotive industry, long anchored in Europe and the United States (US), is moving decisively towards China.
While Europe and the US were the epicentres of automotive innovation and production for more than a century, they now face structural challenges that limit their competitiveness against China.
This shift cannot be explained simply by labour costs or exchange rates, but by deeper systemic differences.
Several key factors help explain this divergence. Since World War II, the US has maintained a defence-oriented economic model.
This has had significant consequences, including the diversion of resources into massive military research and development investments that could otherwise have been directed towards civilian innovation.As a result, industrial specialisation and manufacturing capabilities have been increasingly oriented towards defence sectors.
This has generated a culture of asymmetric innovation: while China focuses primarily on civilian applications, the US continues to develop technologies with limited commercial use.Today, the US accounts for approximately 37% of global military spending,exceeding the combined total of the next ten countries.
At the same time, the deterioration of civilian infrastructure has become increasingly evident.Chronic underinvestment in critical infrastructure has created clear competitive disadvantages.Ageing ports, railways and road networks lead to higher transportation costs and longer delivery times.In addition, limited electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure discourages widespread adoption and reduces incentives for private investment.Attempts to compensate for these weaknesses through protectionist tariff policies have proven insufficient, as they tend to raise the costs of industrial inputs and consumer goods.
Similar structural characteristics can be observed in Western Europe, where these challenges are further aggravated by energy dependence and strategic vulnerability.Efforts to isolate the Russian economy have contributed to these difficulties rather than resolving them.
Europe’s recent energy crisis has exposed longstanding structural weaknesses.Volatile energy costs have forced the European automotive industry to operate with electricity prices three to four times higher than those faced by competitors in other regions.
At the same time, Europe remains heavily dependent on China for electric vehicle battery production.Approximately 75% of EV battery cells used in Europe are imported from China.As energy prices rise, it has become increasingly common for manufacturers to relocate production to regions with more affordable and stable energy supplies.
China has developed strong competitive advantages through strategic industrial integration.These include unprecedented economies of scale derived from a domestic market that produces between 25 and 30 million vehicles annually, significantly reducing unit costs.Chinese companies have also achieved a high degree of vertical integration, controlling multiple stages of production up to the final assembly of vehicles.In addition, intense domestic competition has accelerated innovation cycles. For example, BYD now produces more electric vehicles than all of Europe combined.
China’s strategic approach contrasts sharply with the short-term planning common in many Western economies.Five-Year Plans establish clear industrial objectives over five-to-fifteen-year horizons, providing policy continuity and strategic direction.Coordination between the state, private enterprises and academic institutions facilitates large-scale industrial development.Between 2009 and 2022, China invested an estimated US$130bil in electric vehicle subsidies.These investments helped create market scale and accelerate technological development. China has also worked actively to promote its technological standards internationally.China’s governance structure provides additional organisational advantages.Strategic decisions are implemented consistently across administrative levels, allowing for rapid mobilisation of financial, human and technological resources towards priority sectors.Coordination between education systems, industry and regulation provides a stable framework for long-term investment, reducing uncertainty related to political disruption.China’s industrial strategy is complemented by its approach to international cooperation. Initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative have facilitated the global flow of components and vehicles through expanded infrastructure networks.Preferential trade agreements, leadership in green technologies and economic diplomacy have further supported the expansion of Chinese manufacturing, including the automotive sector.China’s innovation ecosystem has increasingly focused on user experience, digital integration and software-defined vehicles.Development cycles for new models are significantly shorter than those of traditional manufacturers, while advances in battery supply chains and value-chain integration continue to strengthen competitiveness.
The loss of competitiveness of European and American automotive industries represents a structural and multidimensional phenomenon. It cannot be reduced to labour costs or exchange rate advantages.While Western economies face strategic disarticulation, infrastructure deterioration and energy dependence, China has built an integrated and coherent industrial ecosystem. Its advantages are systemic, rooted in economies of scale, vertical integration and long-term planning.For Europe and the US, restoring competitiveness would require structural transformations comparable to those undertaken by China: sustained reinvestment in infrastructure, strategic reindustrialisation and a renewed capacity for long-term planning.Without such changes, the gap with China in the global automotive industry is likely to continue widening.For export-oriented economies in Southeast Asia, understanding this shift is no longer optional. As the global automotive industry continues to move east —not by accident, but by design — industrial strategy, supply-chain positioning and technological adaptation will determine who benefits from the next phase of global manufacturing.