Not long ago, the European Commission confirmed the arrival of tariffs on Chinese cars, declaring that manufacturers there have advantages due to the subsidies received. Some reach up to 38%although they vary depending on the degree of collaboration offered by the brands. However, certain movements are already taking place to be able to skip the taxes. Some Chinese manufacturers plan to produce in Europe so that their cars can remain price competitive.
In recent times we have seen how Chery has acquired the old Nissan factory in Barcelona. This will allow the Chinese firm to produce the Omoda E5 here in collaboration with Ebro-EV Motors. On the other hand, Leapmotor is now part of Stellantis and will be able to make its city cars (like the T03) at the group’s plant in Tychy (Poland). Not to mention that BYD plans to open factories in Hungary and Türkiye or that Zeekr is looking at which facilities of its parent company Geely fit its needs (such as Volvo’s in Ghent).
It is clear that Chinese manufacturers do not want to pay tariffs and that their main solution is to become “Europeanized”. Although it is not yet entirely clear how these taxes will be applied to companies and the Asian country is preparing to debate, it seems that a logical move would be to open facilities on our continent. In some cases, a factory would not be necessary. What Chery is going to do in Barcelona is a assembly center where locally manufactured components are received and assembled to be closer to the final distribution point. Leapmotor does the same in Tychy.
This tariff war between Europe, the United States and China should not harm the end customer. The cheap electric car has to arrive if we intend to democratize this technology and replace combustion completely by 2035. With the tariffs, the prices of the Chinese would rise considerably and They couldn’t reach that level of affordability. Therefore, they want to avoid them at all costs. MG, one of the main Chinese manufacturers by volume, is also considering opening its first production plant in Europe, specifically in Spain.
