Vehicles are seen at a car dealership of Volkswagen in Berlin, capital of Germany, May 7, 2020. (Photo by Binh Truong/Xinhua)
Germany exported around 268,000 cars to China last year. The number is expected to rise to 280,000 this year, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
BERLIN, July 4 (Xinhua) -- China is set to gain "considerable importance" in the coming years for Germany's auto industry, which has already benefited considerably from China, a noted German expert has told Xinhua.
China already accounted for almost 40 percent of the global turnover for the German automobile industry, said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the German Center for Automotive Research (CAR).
According to CAR, Germany exported around 268,000 cars to China last year. And the number is expected to rise to 280,000 this year, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Chinese market will probably continue to bring profits for German car manufacturers and suppliers, and further progress of the research and development centers in the German auto industry depends on the growth of the Chinese market, said Dudenhoeffer, also a professor with the Center of Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Vehicles are seen at a car dealership of BMW in Berlin, capital of Germany, May 7, 2020. (Photo by Binh Truong/Xinhua)
According to figures released by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, new passenger car registrations in Germany fell by almost 35 percent to 1.21 million cars in the first half of 2020.
The half-year number of new passenger car registrations was the lowest figure in Germany since the country's reunification 30 years ago, the German Association of the Automotive Industry noted. ■