EU Investigating Chinese Car Imports

[Robf]

Looks like the cost of Chinese imported EV's could be going up? Includes all cars made in China MG's, Tesla's, VW's ect.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/13/cars/europe-china-electric-car-subsidies/index.html

 

[Gadget Geek]

It looks like the honeymoon is over for China then. It's about time the west woke up to what the PRC are doing (although I'm not complaining at the price I got mine for . . . I suppose that's a bit hypocritical of me).

 

[Robf]

I am a bit either way with this one. Manufacturers out with China have been taking advantage (recently) of under supply to inflate prices, which is fine, market forces to control prices as per capitalism and good business sense. However they cannot then whinge like this when competition deemed by them unfair ( European car makers also get government support) cuts their profit margins. Too much protectionism is not good for customers, nor in the long run for business.

 

[kin]

I am a bit either way with this one. Manufacturers out with China have been taking advantage (recently) of under supply to inflate prices, which is fine, market forces to control prices as per capitalism and good business sense. However they cannot then whinge like this when competition deemed by them unfair ( European car makers also get government support) cuts their profit margins. Too much protectionism is not good for customers, nor in the long run for business.

“Subsidies into both public buses and private passenger cars stopped in 2022. "When there were subsidies in China, they were on a much smaller scale than those in European countries."

This is according to China passenger cars association.

It really is no surprise why Chinese EV cars are much cheaper even without subsidies, cheaper labour, superb supply chain set up. Just like the Japanese in the 70s and the Korean in the 90s?

This is just an efforts to restrict products solely based on their country of origin would run counter to the EU's WTO commitments.

 

[Lovemyev]

Other EV manufacturers moaning that it’s not a level playing field and all that rubbish !.
They are finding it hard to compete and still retain their huge profit margins, so they want levies brought in on the Chinese imports.
Punching under the belt .

 

[Gadget Geek]

To compete with the Chinese on EV's, first of all we need a battery plant, and that's not even started to be built in the UK yet. China have 77% of the market.

Visualizing China’s Dominance in Battery Manufacturing (2022-2027P)

This infographic breaks down battery manufacturing capacity by country in 2022 and 2027.

www.visualcapitalist.com

 

[kin]

To compete with the Chinese on EV's, first of all we need a battery plant, and that's not even started to be built in the UK yet. China have 77% of the market.

Visualizing China’s Dominance in Battery Manufacturing (2022-2027P)

This infographic breaks down battery manufacturing capacity by country in 2022 and 2027.

www.visualcapitalist.com

CATL one of the largest battery manufacturers is building a battery plant in Hungary.

 

[ianwlk]

France seems to be driving demands for this inquiry worried that the Chinese will clean up on the back of European energy measures.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

France has been giving its citizens great subsidies to buy a range of EVs. I got over one third the price off mine. Mainly French people buy European marques but the attractive prices of Chinese cars have given them an edge, plus the grants available. To counteract this trend Mr Macron has decided that next years grants will be only available to marques who can supply a complete record of the amount of carbon produced in the making and transportation of that car into the French market. Any manufacturer who can comply with this requirement ( and of course there are maximum levels) then the grants available will be credited to their cars . This will apply to all manufacturers , so is not anti - Chinese /American etc. This will most likely result in companies who fall foul of these new rules dropping their prices anyway to compete with the more expensive brands who have invested the time ,effort and costs into compiling with the rules and getting the subsidies. Interesting times ahead.

 

[tsedge]

I doubt this will come to anything. If they put higher tariffs on Chinese imports, the Chinese can retaliate not only on imports into China, but also on EU manufacturer's Chinese ventures and, most crucially, on automotive parts - a huge quantity of which come from China. The net effect would be to strangle EU maker's own operations. There might be some makes less exposed than others, but this could create chaos.

And that assumes that tit-for-tat will be limited to the same sector, which it almost certainly wouldn't be - likely the Chinese would target the most painful responses they can.

The EU (and us) got completely into bed with China and we have a tightly integrated economy now. We knew their political system all along, we just assumed integration would change it. We were wrong (so far) and we have to live with the consequences.

We can diversify away from Chinese products in the long term; other countries like Vietnam, India are coming up fast. But that's the long term future, not a reality today.