"Made in China 2025". Exploring Economic Impacts for German Original Equipment Manufacturers

Master's Thesis from the year 2024 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1,8, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: Masterarbeit MBA, language: English, abstract: This paper analyses the factors and the potential economic impacts of the "Made in China 2025" (MIC 25) plans on German OEMs in the automotive sector. German automobile enterprises are currently facing with substantial transformations and challenges, precipitated by the rapid advancements in China's automotive sector, notably in electric vehicle production and sales. These developments are undermining Germany's erstwhile hegemony in the automobile, especially for the Chinese market. China has already made significant progress in the domestic market; after more than 40 years as the market leader, Volkswagen was displaced by BYD in February 2023. The Chinese producers are likewise aiming high for their sales numbers on the German market. The primary research objectives of this thesis are to conduct a semi-systematic literature review and analyses on German OEMs primarily for the Chinese market to identify the respective competitive advantages. Specially, this paper examines the development key indicators of the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) market in terms of market share and government regulations. To achieve this goal, this thesis focuses on two research questions, with a particular emphasis on pure electric vehicles (BEVs):

1) What are the economic impacts of MIC 25 for the German OEMs in the automobile industry?

2) What opportunities and challenges arise from MIC 25 for the German automobile industry?