Motor Trader The award-winning and longest running UK magazine for car retailing professionals. Your first stop for News, Jobs and Reports for the motor industry.
The European Commission could impose tariffs on Chinese EVs from 5 March if it decides that they are receiving unfair subsidies.
It ordered that imports of Chinese-built cars into the EU should be recorded from that date, with the potential to retrospectively apply an additional tariff over and above the 10% currently applied.
The Commission is carrying out an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese battery EVs to determine whether to impose tariffs to protect EU producers.
The probe is due to conclude by November, although the EU could impose provisional duties in July.
An interim decision must be published by early-July and a final decision by November, so this affects cars that are already built for the European market and are in transit as well as the current build plans.
“It’s therefore big news for anyone sourcing cars out of China, which means not only the brands that we immediately think of as Chinese like BYD, Great Wall and MG, but also product from BMW, Dacia, Lotus, Polestar, Tesla and Volvo.
“Depending on their response, it’s going to hit volumes, profits and pricing in some way for the rest of the year,” said ICDP managing director Steve Young.