EU weighs tariffs on EVs made in China because they cost 20% less

EU President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to consider tariffs in her annual address to the EU Parliament

This latest proposal from the president of the European Commission would be terrible news for EV consumers and the market generally. Clearly, Chinese competition is helping driving down prices — as the article linked notes,

The average retail price of a Chinese-brand electric car in Germany was 29% lower than the average for non-Chinese EV models, not counting incentives or discounts, according to Jato Dynamics, while 32% lower in France and 38% lower in the UK.

Moreover, Chinese carmakers are often the ones building the smaller, cheaper, more sustainable EVs we need more of in Canada and elsewhere to help a wider range of consumers get over the initial “sticker shock” when they look at buying a new EV.

Here in Canada, sadly, the Chinese brands largely aren’t even available, and because profit margins are better on luxury vehicles, even when carmakers have more reasonable EVs in their domestic markets they often choose not to sell them to North America. On this point, I was disappointed that although Vietnamese manufacturer Vinfast recently started a marketing push here, they are only initially selling their VF8 and VF9 SUVs ($56k and $103k) — and only in BC, Ontario and Quebec. Their VF5 Plus city car is half the price but is currently only available in Vietnam.

If there is a silver lining for Canadians, it is that the tariff proposal would also hit any brands whose cars are made in China, which includes BMW and Tesla, so if those cars are not sold in the EU they might help increase the supply of cars available here?

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