00:00And Peter Wells is Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University.
00:06Peter, great to have you on the show.
00:07So let's start with the Beijing Auto Show.
00:09I'm pretty sure that you're watching that.
00:11And as a professional industry observer, I would say, what are your takeaways?
00:17Yeah, it's been a really interesting show.
00:20I think a few things.
00:22First, a really strong show of confidence from the Chinese automotive industry.
00:29So many new products, so much new technology, so many really interesting features in the cars.
00:35They're really pushing the industry to a higher level.
00:38So that was really interesting.
00:39Second thing was, of course, yes, the European manufacturers have also made a very strong statement there about staying in
00:47that market and staying competitive.
00:49And I think the third thing I got from all of that was, despite the lack of growth in the
00:54Chinese market,
00:55it remains really the most important competitive arena and market opportunity for the world automotive industry.
01:02Well, Peter, as I said, it is a rather competitive market in China.
01:06But still, a lot of companies are bringing their latest models to China.
01:10As we heard from the interview just now, Volkswagen will unveil some of its latest models in China this year.
01:16So what does it say about the significance or continued significance of the Chinese market?
01:22Do you think the market is saturated?
01:25Well, I think there are beginning to be signs of saturation for sure.
01:29And, of course, in the recent past, some manufacturers have had to scale back some of their ambitions for the
01:35Chinese market.
01:36But what I also see is a shift in the structure of the market.
01:40I think there's a definitive move to try and shift up market in terms of the quality and value of
01:47the product.
01:47There is a risk for all players in this market.
01:51If consumers aren't prepared to move with the manufacturers into those more luxurious, more feature-filled cars,
01:58then there's going to be a real recalibration, a reset, and that will be quite difficult for several of the
02:06players here.
02:06And I also want to talk about China and the European Union.
02:10We know that they do have some tensions over the Chinese-made EVs.
02:13So how do you assess the current auto relations between China and the European Union?
02:20Well, it's really interesting listening to the CEO at Volkswagen
02:24because what he described there is something that's going on across the industry, which is shared destiny.
02:31You can no longer separate out fully the interests of, say, the Chinese automotive against the interests of the European
02:39automotive.
02:40In other words, we see a lot of shared investments, a lot of cooperation,
02:45and a lot of basically working together in order to try and navigate what is an increasingly complicated market environment.
02:53And I expect that to continue.
02:55Yes, those tensions are in there.
02:57There are all sorts of things to be resolved.
02:59But it's no longer a case of one block against another block.
03:03There are many different and divergent interests at play.
03:07Yeah, thank you very much, Peter.
03:09Peter Wells from Cardiff University.
03:10Thank you very much for your insight.
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