The European Commission has just announced the launch of an investigation into possible Chinese state subsidies for the electric car sector.
Chinese electric cars are increasingly frightening European manufacturers, for whom the production costs of firms from the Middle Kingdom would simply be impossible to compete with. They therefore expect to see brands like BYD or NIO overwhelm the old continent in the future. Unless Brussels decides otherwise.
Subsidized electric vehicles
Could this be the first awakening of the European Union in the face of China? The European Commission has just announced the opening of an investigation which should determine whether Beijing has unduly favored its electric car industry with subsidies. What the European executive body believes.
“ Global markets are now flooded with cheaper electric cars. And their price is kept artificially low by huge public subsidies » Ursula von der Leyen has just explained, during her annual speech to Parliament.
In response to this observation, an investigation has just been launched, an investigation which should ultimately make it possible to see whether or not it will be necessary to impose higher customs duties on Chinese electric vehicles in retaliation.
Decision in 2024
This investigation concerns all electric cars produced in China, and could therefore affect non-local manufacturers like Tesla or even European firms like BMW or Renault. The measure is all the more important as it originates from an initiative by the Commission, when this type of European investigation usually involves a complaint from a company.
The investigation will last a total of 13 months. We should therefore only know the consequences of this decision in the fall of 2024. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce for the European Union has expressed its concerns, and affirms that the lower prices offered by the country’s manufacturers would not be not due to Beijing’s action. According to figures given by the European Commission, sales of Chinese electric cars currently represent 8% of the old continent’s market, a figure destined to increase to 15% by 2025.
Source : Reuters
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