Paris only wants to promote the purchase of electric cars with ‘environmental stickers’. Many Chinese cars would fail. To protect its own car companies, France has probably found leverage against the flow of cheap cars from China. It is unclear whether Austria and other EU countries will intervene.
Chinese electric car manufacturers such as BYD, Nio, MG and others are currently overwhelming the EU. By July, sales had more than doubled, market share had risen from almost zero to eight percent and could rise to 15 percent by 2025, the European Commission recently calculated. The main reason: they are on average 20 percent cheaper than European electric vehicles, not least because the car industry is massively subsidized by the government in Beijing, EU Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen suspects. She announced a review and possible punitive tariffs.
Environmental authority as an obstacle
France has found another lever: not least at the insistence of Peugeot & Co. Paris wants to grant the purchase subsidy for electric cars, currently a maximum of 7,000 euros, from January only for cars expressly recognized by the French environmental authority. Taking into account the environmental impact of long transportation routes, the use of ‘dirty’ fossil energy in production, mining methods for raw materials, etc., this is likely to slow down many Chinese models.
Buyers would then receive no money from the state. This method would also not violate international competition law, because environmental regulations are permitted, it is said.
It remains to be seen whether other countries will join. In any case, the German car companies are against EU punitive tariffs because they fear – probably rightly – countermeasures from China. The market there is already the largest in the world for VW, BMW, etc., so any burden there would be very painful for the Germans.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
