The supply of Chinese electric cars is on the rise. These are brands such as NIO, BYD and XPENG. It is expected that by 2025 the market share in Europe will certainly have doubled, and if the Chinese are really lucky, even tripled. This could have major consequences for the European car industry. And what about privacy?
Chinese cars don’t have a very good image in Europe. In the past, they proved unsafe in crash tests and quietly disappeared from the scene after their introduction. But times have changed, says Niels van den Hoogen of leasing company Athlon. His company recently started offering five new Chinese brands. “Certainly the new introductions of the Chinese brands meet all European requirements.”
Scarcity
Car importer Thijs Pitlo was critical in advance, but is impressed. He picked up an electric SUV from the Chinese state company Dongfeng in Norway, a car that is not yet for sale in the Netherlands. “The quality is good, the driving characteristics are good and after almost ten thousand kilometers no squeak, no creak, nothing.”
Chinese cars are attractive mainly because of the lower price than their American and European competitors. “4 to 10 percent cheaper in every segment,” says researcher Alex Keynes of Transport & Environment. And the Chinese cars can also be delivered much faster, says Van den Hoogen. “European and American cars are currently experiencing scarcity.”
Wake-up call
The rise of Chinese brands means fierce competition in Europe and America. Tesla, market leader in the US, expects to sell slightly more cars this year (1.6 million) than the Chinese BYD. But the difference is minimal.
The Chinese brands also owe their advance to government policy: the electric car industry is a spearhead for China and received a lot of government support. They now have enough confidence and experience to take the leap to Europe,” says researcher Keynes. He sees that some European brands are still focusing too much on the combustion engine, while the Chinese are already going full for electric.
Last year, the German rental company Sixt ordered 100,000 electric cars, not from Volkswagen or Audi, but from BYD. Keynes thinks this is typical: “It must be a wake-up call for the manufacturers who still cling to outdated technology.”
The quality of Chinese cars may no longer be a concern, but privacy is. All modern cars, including Chinese ones, have a wireless connection and send large amounts of data to the manufacturer. That can be the indoor temperature or the highest speed achieved, but also video, audio and GPS location data.
Malicious people
Professor Jan Friso Groote helped develop the first solar cars and works at chip machine manufacturer ASML. He’s worried. “The rules are quite unclear. Car manufacturers are allowed to collect what is reasonable. But: what is reasonable? Does that data end up in the hands of malicious parties, security services, who know everything about you and can do whatever they want with it?”
China already does not have a good reputation for privacy and espionage. Manufacturers Dongfeng and Hongqi say data generated by their cars in Europe will only end up on European servers and will be used to improve the car and software.
Groote has his doubts. “That there is a separation between the European continent and China? It’s a piece of cake to forward data. So I don’t really believe that.”
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) does not consider the promise of car manufacturers to be a guarantee. “Manufacturers from outside the EU can still access the data.” Manufacturers are subject to the GDPR privacy law and may only share data with other countries outside the EU under strict conditions, according to the AP.
Minister’s car
Should government officials or cabinet members be allowed to drive Chinese cars, given the risk of espionage? The Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for official cars, says that no car brands are excluded in advance. However, “demands are set within the contract conditions in the context of data security and cyber security for (parts of) telematics and track & trace systems.”
Professor Groote finds the ministry’s response understandable. But if there is a choice between a comparable German or American car, he knows: “I would just think twice before buying a Chinese model.”
