Skip to main content
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Published in:
Read chapter Read first chapter

2025 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

9. Between Covid and Geopolitics: Emerging Production Networks in the New Energy Vehicle Industry in China

Authors : Boy Lüthje, Wei Zhao

Published in: Global Shifts in the Automotive Sector

Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

The chapter delves into the profound shifts within China's new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic and escalating geopolitical tensions. It reveals how China has become the global leader in NEV production, surpassing multinational car companies in market share. The text explores the vertical disintegration of traditional automotive value chains, where specialized producers of core components like batteries have emerged as key players. This transformation is compared to the break-up of Fordist and post-Fordist models in the IT industry, highlighting the emergence of new production networks centered around batteries, digital driving systems, and automotive semiconductors. The chapter also examines the historical and political context of China's automotive sector, tracing its evolution through three major phases of transformation. It discusses the role of industrial policy, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the rise of new players in the NEV sector. The analysis extends to the lithium battery industry, detailing the vertical restructuring and globalization of production networks. The chapter concludes by exploring future scenarios for the automotive industry, including vertical disintegration, refurbished vertical integration, and flexible specialization, and the implications for industrial policy and global competition.
AI Generated

This summary of the content was generated with the help of AI.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Business + Economics & Engineering + Technology"

Online-Abonnement

Springer Professional "Business + Economics & Engineering + Technology" gives you access to:

  • more than 102.000 books
  • more than 537 journals

from the following subject areas:

  • Automotive
  • Construction + Real Estate
  • Business IT + Informatics
  • Electrical Engineering + Electronics
  • Energy + Sustainability
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Leadership
  • Marketing + Sales
  • Mechanical Engineering + Materials
  • Insurance + Risk


Secure your knowledge advantage now!

inform now

Springer Professional "Engineering + Technology"

Online-Abonnement

Springer Professional "Engineering + Technology" gives you access to:

  • more than 67.000 books
  • more than 390 journals

from the following specialised fileds:

  • Automotive
  • Business IT + Informatics
  • Construction + Real Estate
  • Electrical Engineering + Electronics
  • Energy + Sustainability
  • Mechanical Engineering + Materials





 

Secure your knowledge advantage now!

inform now

Springer Professional "Business + Economics"

Online-Abonnement

Springer Professional "Business + Economics" gives you access to:

  • more than 67.000 books
  • more than 340 journals

from the following specialised fileds:

  • Construction + Real Estate
  • Business IT + Informatics
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Leadership
  • Marketing + Sales
  • Insurance + Risk



Secure your knowledge advantage now!

inform now
previous chapter The Imposed Path for the Italian Automotive System
next chapter Industrial Trajectories in the Brazilian and Indian Auto Sectors
Footnotes
1
Danielle Wu provided most valuable assistance to our research on this article and our previous projects on China’s New Energy Vehicle Industry.
 
Literature
Automotive News China. (2021, January 20). Foxconn showcases new EV platform. Automotive News China.
Automotive News China. (2022, May 8). For key Tesla supplier, Shanghai COVID lockdowns strain workers, spur chaos. Automotive News China.
Automotive News China. (2023a, June 4). BYD sales more than double in May. Automotive News China.
Automotive News China. (2023b, July 24). Toyota’s China venture dismisses some factory workers as sales fall. Automotive News China.
Automotive News China. (2024, April 15). Volkswagen explores new strategies for the Chinese NEV market. Automotive News China.
Borrus, M., & Zysman, J. (1997). Wintelism and the changing terms of global competition. Prototype of the future? (BRIE Working Paper 96B). Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy).
Butollo, F., & Schneidemesser, L. (2022). Who runs the show in digital manufacturing? Data, digital platforms and the restructuring of global value chains. Global Networks, 22, 595–614.CrossRef
Chen, B., & Midler, C. (2016). The electric vehicle landscape in China: Between institutional and market forces. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 16(3), 248–273.CrossRef
China Auto Update. (2023). Autonomous driving is pushing new business models. China Auto Update. WeChat official program.
Cusumano, M. A., Gawer, A., & Yoffe, B. (2019). The business of platforms: Strategy in the age of digital competition, innovation and power. Harper Business.
Ernst, D., & Naughton, B. (2008). China’s emerging industrial economy. Insights from the IT industry. In C. A. McNally (Ed.), China’s emergent political economy. Capitalism in the dragon’s lair (pp.39–59). Routledge.
Evans, P. (1979). Dependent development: The alliance of multinational, state, and local capital in Brazil. Princeton University Press.CrossRef
Financial Times. (2021, December 1). Tesla to spend $188 million to upgrade Shanghai plant. Financial Times.
Financial Times. (2023, September 12). China set to overtake Japan as world’s biggest car exporter. Financial Times.
Gao, B. (2023). The secrets of the rise of electric vehicles in China. Beijing Culture Review, 6 (in Chinese).
IPRD. (2018). Strategic development report on NEV battery industry of Huizhou City, Sun Yat-sen University and Huizhou Municipal Government.
Jürgens, U., & Sablowski, T. (2004). A new model of industrial governance? Wintelism in the InfoCom industry. In M. Faust, U. Voskamp, & U. Wittke (Eds.), European industrial restructuring in a global economy. Fragmentation and relocation of value chains (pp. 221–240). Soziologisches Forschungsinstitut an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
Lüthje, B. (2001). Standort Silicon Valley: Ökonomie und Politik der vernetzten Massenproduktion. Campus.
Lüthje, B. (2021). Going digital, going green: Changing production networks in the automotive industry in China. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 21(1/2), 121–136.CrossRef
Lüthje, B. (2022). Foxconnisation of automobile manufacturing? Production networks and regimes of production in the electric vehicle industry in China. In C. Teipen, P. Dünhaupt, H. Herr, & F. Mehl (Eds.), Economic and social upgrading in global value chains (pp. 311–334). Springer International Publishing. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1007/​978-3-030-87320-2_​12
Lüthje, B., Hürtgen, S., Pawlicki, P., & Sproll, M. (2013). From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen—Global production and work in the IT-industry. Rowman and Littlefield.
Lüthje, B., & Tian, M. (2015). China’s automotive industry: Structural impediments to socio-economic rebalancing. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 15(3), 244–267.CrossRef
Lüthje, B., Wu, D., & Zhao, W. (2023). China’s auto industry: Regimes of production and industrial policy in the age of electric cars. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 23(1), 80–98.CrossRef
McNally, C. A. (2008). China’s Emergent Political Economy. Capitalism in the dragon’s lair. Routledge.
McNally, C. A. (2013). Refurbishing State Capitalism: A Policy Analysis of Efforts to Rebalance China’s Political Economy. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 4, 45–71.
MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology). (2021). Zhongguo Qiche Chanye Fazhan Nianbao (China Automotive Industry Development Annual Report). MIIT.
Muniz, S. T. G., Belzowski, B. M., & Zhu, J. (2019). The trajectory of China’s new energy vehicles policy. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 19(3–4), 257–280.CrossRef
Pardi, T. (2022). Heavier, faster and less affordable cars. The consequence of EU regulations for car emissions (Report 2022.07). European Trade Union Institut.
Sorge, A., & Streeck, W. (2016). Diversified quality production revisited: The transformation of production systems and regulatory regimes in Germany (MPIfG Discussion Paper No 16/13). Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. https://​hdl.​handle.​net/​10419/​148608
Ten Brink, T. (2019). China’s capitalism—A paradoxical route to prosperity. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Thun, E. (2006). Changing lanes in China, direct investment, local government, and auto sector development. Cambridge University Press.
Thun, E., Taglioni, D., Sturgeon, T., & Dallas, M. P. (2022). Massive modularity: Understanding industry organization in the digital age. The case of mobile phone handsets. (Policy Research Working Paper 10164). The World Bank Group.
Tyfield, D. (2018). Liberalism 2.0 and the rise of China: Global crisis, innovation and urban mobility. Routledge.
Wolf, W. (2019). Mit dem Elektroauto in die Sackgasse. Warum E-Mobilität den Klimawandel beschleunigt. Promedia.
Zhang, L. (2015). Inside China’s Automobile Factories: The Politics of Labor and Worker Resistance. Cambridge University Press.
Zheng, Y., & Huang, Y. (2018). Market in state: The political economy of domination in China. Cambridge University Press.
Ziegler, A. (2020). Der Aufstieg des Internet der Dinge: wie sich Industrieunternehmen zu Tech-Unternehmen entwickeln. Campus.
Metadata
Title
Between Covid and Geopolitics: Emerging Production Networks in the New Energy Vehicle Industry in China
Authors
Boy Lüthje
Wei Zhao
Copyright Year
2025
Book
Global Shifts in the Automotive Sector

Print ISBN: 978-3-031-80640-7

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-80641-4

Copyright Year: 2025

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-80641-4_9

Premium Partner

    Image Credits