Increasing role of China in EU’s automotive industry

Brussels: In 2022, the domestic value added of the EU automotive industry attributed to non-EU consumers amounted to €78.9 billion, representing a 54% increase from 2010 (€51.1 billion) but a 7% decline in nominal terms from 2015 (€84.4 billion).

In 2022, China was the largest consumer of EU vehicle products, accounting for 21% of total EU domestic value added of the automotive industry, ahead of the United States (20%), which had historically been the largest partner, and the United Kingdom (13%). China emerged as the top partner in recent years, with its share rising from 12% of EU domestic value added in 2010 to 21% in 2022.

This information comes from data on macro-economic globalisation indicators based on Full international and global accounts for research in input-output analysis (FIGARO) tables. This article presents some findings from a more detailed Statistics Explained article.

EU automotive industry value added from non-EU final use, by trading partner, 2010. 2014 and 20223, %. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

In 2022, value added in the non-EU automotive industry, driven by final consumption in the EU, reached €34.6 billion. This represents an increase of 47% in nominal terms compared with 2015 (€23.5 billion) and a 124% increase since 2010 (€15.4 billion).

The majority of value added in the non-EU automotive industry was attributed to the Chinese producers (16%), ahead of Japanese (15%) and South Korean (10%) producers. China experienced the largest growth, rising from 9% in 2010 to 16% in 2022.

Value added in the non-EU automotive industry fromEU final use, by country of origin, 2010, 2015 and 2022, %. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

To help you further explore global trade and investment trends, Eurostat has updated the Globalisation dashboard with a series of new indicators.