Mercedes-Benz’s management board chairman has warned the EU that raising tariffs on competing imported Chinese electric vehicles will decrease automakers’ motivation to build the best possible cars.
The executive, Ola Källenius, commented after an EU investigation allegedly found evidence of China having an unfair electric vehicle market advantage on exports through vast Beijing subsidies, which many fear will undermine local manufacturers with low prices.
Källenius said: “Don’t raise tariffs. I’m a contrarian. I think go the other way around: take the tariffs that we have and reduce them.”
He added that Chinese electric vehicle (EV) exports are a: “Natural progression of competition, and it needs to be met with better product, better technology, more agility.
“That is the market economy. Let competition play out,” Carscoops reports.
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The threat of this retaliation is increasing as Chinese EV giants like BYD look to triple their European market share by 2025.
New tariffs might also stir emotions in the UK because they could make previously affordable EVs unattainable for the average driver.
BYD and other China-owned EV makers like MG have also recently launched more affordable electric cars in Britain priced at around £25,000 — around £15,000 less than an entry-level Model 3, Tesla’s least-expensive vehicle.
The European Union’s probe into Chinese EV subsidies will conclude by November 2024, although the union may impose provisional duties as soon as July.
