European carmakers are rapidly losing market share globally as Chinese rivals enter a new phase of expansion and innovation, said the head of the world’s biggest operator of car-carrying ships.
Lasse Kristoffersen, chief executive of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, told the Financial Times there was “massive growth” in shipments from China to Latin America, Europe, Africa and Australia amid Beijing’s domestic crackdown on price cuts.
“The reason why Chinese are winning market shares is because they innovate themselves,” he told analysts on a recent earnings call. “The Chinese producers have gone from being cost leaders to now being technology leaders.”