Martin Sebena
As Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers have come to dominate the industry, contenders from other countries are struggling to keep pace. Layoffs and dwindling profits, protectionist policies and calls for increased state funding are just some of the responses that dominate the headlines.
Western European carmakers have been hit particularly hard by the rise of Chinese EV makers. In October 2024, Volkswagen announced that it would be significantly cutting its workforce, while the auto conglomerate Stellantis’s CEO abruptly quit in December amid disappointing results.
But in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a competitor to China is silently rising — South Korea. The country’s firms have managed to transition their long-established internal combustion engine factories in the CEE region into EV hubs while also pumping billions of euros into battery supply chains. South Korea’s successes offer not only lessons for other competitors to China, but also important clues about the future of this competition.
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