Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and SAIC Motor, the owner of MG, accounted for 7.4 percent of new electric vehicle registrations in the EU in November. That is a significant drop compared to the 8.2 percent in October and the lowest level since March, reports market researcher Dataforce. The decline follows higher import tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, which were introduced by the European Union at the end of October. The EU imposed the additional tariffs of up to 35 percent after research showed that Chinese state aid led to an unfair competitive advantage for Chinese automakers over their European peers. Months of talks failed to resolve the trade dispute between the EU and China, prompting Brussels to add the new tariffs to an already existing 10 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric cars. Although the tariffs apply to all electric cars from China, including those from Western brands such as BMW and Tesla that are made there, the levies vary. That depends on how much support a car manufacturer received from the government and whether it cooperated with the EU investigation. For example, Chinese state-owned company SAIC was hit the hardest, with tariffs now totaling 45 percent. SAIC, which has long been the best-selling Chinese carmaker in Europe, saw registrations in the EU fall by 58 percent in November from a year earlier. Although the higher duties have blunted China’s push for electric cars in the EU, their introduction overall resulted in a smaller setback for Chinese automakers than expected, said Dataforce analyst Julian Litzinger. For example, BYD still saw the number of registrations of its car brand in the EU increase in November compared to a year ago.
Source: www.autoweek.nl
