- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
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- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
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- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
- Musk finally unveiling his long-promised robotaxi
- London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics
- US, Europe stocks fall on US inflation data
- US consumer inflation eases to 2.4% in September
- Hurricane Milton tornadoes kill four in Florida amid rescue efforts
- South Korea's Han Kang wins literature Nobel
- Ikea posts fall in annual sales after lowering prices
- Stock markets diverge, oil gains after China rebounds
- World can't 'waste time' trading climate change blame: COP29 hosts
- South Korean same-sex couples make push for marriage equality
- Mumbai declares day of mourning for Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- 7-Eleven owner restructures to fight takeover
- Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as most markets track Wall St record
- Uniqlo owner reports record annual earnings
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as markets track Wall St record
- Indonesia biomass drive threatens key forests: report
- Mumbai mourns Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
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- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
VW joins e-car price war as global rivalry heats up
German giant Volkswagen is set to follow Tesla's lead with a high-profile price drop as the battle for global dominance in the electric car segment intensifies, and local challengers race ahead in key market China.
A new version of Volkswagen's flagship ID.3 electric car model will go on sale from the end of March for just under 40,000 euros ($42,000), the VW brand announced this week.
That is a 3,000-euro markdown from the current ID.3 price tag, putting it on par with US rival Tesla's popular Model Y.
Industry insiders see the move as a direct response to several rounds of price-cutting by the Elon Musk-owned company in recent months, including discounts of up to 20 percent in Europe and the United States.
In Germany, Tesla's sales soared by more than 900 percent year-on-year in January as a result, making it the top-selling e-car in the country that month.
Although the 10-brand VW group was Europe's leading e-car manufacturer in 2022 with 352,000 vehicles sold, Tesla's audacious markdowns have forced the German firm's hand, said industry analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer.
"Volkswagen sees how big the threat is from Tesla," he told AFP.
The automaker will have "no choice" but to enter "a price war" to defend its place in the hotly contested market for battery-powered vehicles, even if that means profit margins take a hit for a while.
VW group CEO Oliver Blume has so far ruled out a general price drop on all e-cars, but the topic is bound to come up when the group presents its 2022 financial results on Tuesday.
But Musk is not VW's only headache. In China, the world's largest car market, the industry's electrification has shifted into higher gear and VW is rapidly falling behind domestic competitors.
- China challenge -
The Asian giant currently accounts for some 40 percent of VW group sales, mostly vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines, giving it a market share in China of 16 percent.
But in the electric car segment, the Volkswagen brand has eked out a market share of just 2.4 percent, trailing Tesla at 7.8 percent and China's BYD at 16 percent.
A slew of other Chinese automakers such as Wuling, GAC and Chery are also outperforming VW, according to data compiled by the financial daily Handelsblatt.
Fellow German carmakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW are faring no better in China, their e-models holding a market share of less than one percent each.
"In the world's largest car market, German manufacturers have so far lagged behind local brands," industry expert Stefan Bratzel said in his annual report on electromobility.
Of the more than five million electric vehicles sold in China in 2022, VW accounted for just 155,700.
- Traffic jam entertainment -
"The times when German traditional carmakers could take their market shares (in China) for granted are gone," said Gregor Sebastian, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies.
"In Germany, driving performance remains a key factor" when customers choose a new car, he said.
"But in China, where many people spend a lot of their driving time stuck in traffic jams and highly value new technologies, the car's interaction with the smartphone and overall connectivity is more important," he added.
VW's China chief Ralf Brandstaetter said the group needed to make cars "in China, for China" if it wanted to boost e-sales there -- and do so faster.
"The Chinese develop a new car in two and a half years. VW takes just under four years to do that," he recently said in Germany's Sueddeutsche newspaper.
With VW expecting China to make major strides in autonomous driving in the near future, the German group last year said it was teaming up with Chinese AI chip specialist Horizon Robotics to accelerate the development of smart-driving technologies.
And even with all the changes sweeping the industry, the reputation of German carmakers remains a trump card in China, said Sebastian.
"The competition is tough," he said. "But German carmakers like Volkswagen have over 80 years' experience building cars for different markets and customers, that will give them an advantage."
J.Bondarev--CPN