The Dacia Spring is a remarkable car.

The Romanian manufacturer's plump mini-SUV is one of the best-selling electric cars in Europe.

One of the main reasons for the success is that Dacia, a subsidiary of the French Renault group, is offering its battery-powered vehicle at a competitive price.

Marcus Theurer

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The range of the car is modest due to its small battery and the equipment is sparse.

But the Spring in Germany is already available for 22,500 euros.

After deducting the government purchase subsidy that is still applicable for electric vehicles, it costs 13,500 euros, a few thousand euros less than comparable small electric cars from the competition.

But the spring is special for another reason.

Since the start of production last year, it has not been manufactured in Romania like other Dacia models, but 6000 kilometers further east in China and is then shipped to Europe for export.

The Smart becomes a Chinese car

Much has been reported this fall about the attack by Chinese automakers on the European market.

Manufacturers of electric cars such as BYD, Great Wall and Nio, who are already successful in their home market, are now also pushing their products into Europe.

Dacia Spring shows that there is a second change in the automotive industry that has so far received little attention: In the new world of electric cars, European manufacturers are also beginning to supply their customers in Europe from China.

Another example of this change is the BMW iX3.

The compact electric SUV from the traditional Bavarian brand does not come from Dingolfing or Regensburg.

It is assembled in Shenyang, Manchuria for the entire world market.

In the city in north-eastern China, the car company from Germany opened its third plant in the summer.

Nowhere in the world does BMW build as many cars as in Shenyang.

The iX3 has also been rolling off the assembly line here since 2020.

Half of the production is destined for China, the other half is exported, also to Europe.

The next electric version of the BMW small car Mini will also be built in China on a technology platform shared with Chinese partner Great Wall.

At Mercedes, on the other hand, the Smart minimobile is currently experiencing its rebirth - as an electric car that the Swabians are building together with the Chinese major shareholder Geely in its home market.

So if you order the new Smart in Germany, you will also get a car from China.

And reports from Volkswagen management were launched a year ago that VW could soon export its ID.6 electric model, which has so far only been built and sold in China, to Europe, but this was met with bitter resistance from the powerful works council in Wolfsburg would bump.

Chinese cost advantages

The development cannot only be described with examples, it can also be put into numbers: The management consultancy PWC predicts a steep increase in Chinese car exports to Europe for the coming years.

By 2025, the volume will roughly triple to almost 800,000 units, most of them electric.