● Investigation claims “unfair subsidisation” from Beijing ● China calls investigation “a typical case of protectionism”
Tom Jervis Tom_Jervis@autovia.co.uk@thomaswjervis
TRADE WAR
THE European Commission is threatening additional tariffs of up to 48 per cent on Chinese electric cars, following an investigation into what it calls “unfair subsidisation” by Beijing.
The Commission’s inquiry found that such subsidies pose a “threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers”. China was the largest global exporter of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2023, shipping as many as 10 billion Euros’ worth (£8.4bn) worldwide and doubling its market share to eight per cent. Therefore, from 4 July, an additional import tariff will be applied to EVs built in China, on top of the existing 10 per cent levy “should discussions with Chinese authorities not lead to a solution”.
According to the European Commission, the size of the tariff affixed to each manufacturer’s products has been calculated by analysing the size of the subsidy received by each company from the Chinese government. The effect of the ruling has a potentially huge impact on SAIC, the owner of MG, Maxus and Inmotors, which could be hit with a huge 38.1 per cent (48.1 per cent total) tariff on all of its models, over and above the 10 per cent import tariff already applied.
To put this in perspective, if this kind of tariff comes to the UK, it would raise the cost of the £26,995 MG4 hatchback to £36,252 – an increase of almost £10,000.
Geely, the owner of Lotus, Smart and Volvo, would incur 20 per cent (30 per cent total) tariffs. This would mark up the price of an entry-level Volvo EX30 from £33,044 to £38,661. And BYD models would be affected by an additional 17.1 per cent (27.1 per cent total) duty. This would push up the cost of the BYD Dolphin supermini from £30,195 to £34,540. In addition,
