- We recently saw that Chinese brands have 2.5% of the European market (30 countries) on the first four months of 2024, and 8.5% of the European BEV market. Furthermore, Inovev has analysed that, even in the specific case of the French market, where subsidies on the purchase of models imported from China have been discontinued, Chinese cars currently remain competitive.
- Today, these cars risk becoming less competitive, as the European Commission has just proposed to increase their customs duties due to "subsidies considered unfair" which would be attributed to Chinese carmakers exporting their battery electric vehicles to Europe. These subsidies would make the cars cheaper than their European competitors, thereby distorting the market. This proposal follows an investigation carried out by the European Commission to verify the existence and quantify these "unfair subsidies" from which Chinese carmakers would benefit, causing serious economic prejudice to European carmakers.
- The system proposed by the European Commission aims to introduce a different level of taxation for each carmaker, for example 17.4% for BYD, 20% for Geely or 38% for SAIC (MG), the best-selling Chinese brands in Europe. By default, the additional tax would be 21% for carmakers who cooperated with the survey, and 38% for those who did not.
- The Chinese authorities have strongly criticised this proposal, accusing it of being a protectionist measure, and German carmakers are also highly critical, pointing to the negative effects of these measures, as they could suffer a similar response from the Chinese authorities as Germany exported 250,000 cars to China in 2023, representing over 97% of European automotive exports. It should also be noted that nearly 5 million licensed European vehicles are assembled in China (see next slide). These measures may have different consequences: It could accelerate the construction of Chinese carmakers' factories in Europe and in European nearby countries, push Chinese carmakers to switch to ICE or PHEV technologies, or even create an additional tax on European vehicles imported into China (350,000 units in 2023), mainly from Germany (250,000 units in 2023).
Analyses
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