MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - The head of the Volkswagen truck holding company Traton sees tough competition from China emerging in Europe for commercial vehicles as well. Chinese electric bus providers have positioned themselves well in a very short time, mainly thanks to their access to very good battery technology, said Christian Levin in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency (Thursday). "If you extrapolate that and look at trucks, you can imagine a similar development."

German suppliers Traton (MAN, Scania) and Daimler Truck as well as Swedish rival Volvo already offer electric trucks to reduce emissions in transportation. However, sales figures are still low.

The Chinese manufacturer BYD, which is strong in electric cars, also offers electric trucks and buses. BYD is planning to build a factory in Hungary. Other Chinese manufacturers have also set their sights on the European market, currently mainly for passenger cars.

However, the VW/Traton brand Scania is currently building its own truck plant in China, which would give the Swedes the first independent production of trucks by a foreign manufacturer in the People's Republic. The plant will be able to build up to 50,000 trucks per year and is scheduled to start production late in 2025./men/stw/mis