On the evening of October 27, Yang Xueliang, senior vice president of Geely Holding Group, posted on Weibo in response to the EU countervailing investigation. Yang Xueliang said: "Geely Holding Group will actively cooperate with the EU's countervailing investigation. Geely Holding Group has always respected free trade, advocated fair competition, strictly abided by the laws and regulations of all countries in the world, and participated in market competition in accordance with laws and regulations. Based on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results, Geely Holding Group has continued to invest in Europe for more than 10 years, which not only protects the iconic European car brands, but also creates good industrial synergies."
It is worth mentioning that in the face of the EU countervailing investigation, Chinese automakers are actively responding.
On October 23, Mu Feng, president of Great Wall Motors, also posted a blog saying that Great Wall Motors took the lead in responding to the EU countervailing investigation and was the first to submit response materials on the 11th of this month. We need a fair and open trading environment, it said. At the same time, with the systematic competitive strength of Great Wall Motors, we have the confidence to win a competitive advantage in the global market. We are firm in global development, long-termism, and ecological going to sea. It will be bumpy for Chinese cars to go to sea, but we are unswerving and accelerate the pace of going to sea!
Earlier, Li Ke, executive vice president of BYD, also said in an interview with the media that as a listed company, BYD needs to manage in a transparent and open way to share information, so it is not worried about any investigations that are being conducted in Europe. In order to dispel misconceptions about BYD in the European market, BYD will share all the information it needs with the EU and will continue to promote the company's growth.
In addition to Geely Automobile and Great Wall Motor's response, a number of Chinese auto companies have also begun to build local factories. In mid-September, SAIC Motor announced that it had started site selection for an automotive assembly plant in Europe. BYD executives said at the Munich Motor Show in September that they would decide on the location of European automakers by the end of this year.
On September 13, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that it would launch a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, due to concerns that Chinese automakers will produce low-cost electric vehicles through large government subsidies, and the influx of these electric vehicles into the EU market will threaten the development of domestic electric vehicles in Europe.
On October 4, the European Commission officially issued an announcement that it decided to launch a countervailing investigation on pure electric vehicles imported from China. However, due to the large number of companies involved, the European Commission opted for a sampling method to determine the final survey objectives. On October 25, the European Commission announced that it had selected three Chinese automakers, BYD, SAIC and Geely, to launch a countervailing investigation.
It is understood that although Tesla has shipped more electric vehicles from China to Europe than any other company, it is not one of the companies under investigation by the European Union. In addition, if the EU finds "evidence of subsidies" in the investigation, it will calculate the corresponding "average countervailing duty", which will apply to all electric vehicles imported from China, including Volkswagen, Tesla, BMW and other major models produced in China.
In fact, since the EU announced the launch of a countervailing investigation on China's electric vehicles, the Ministry of Commerce of China and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers have responded immediately, expressing strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition. At the same time, the EU-initiated countervailing investigation not only affects Chinese EV companies, but also affects multinational automakers that produce EVs in China and export them to the EU, including Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other car companies.
It is understood that Tesla, Volkswagen and BMW occupy the top three in the automobile market in 14 major European countries, with market shares of about 18%, 12% and 6.3% respectively. Among them, the domestically produced Tesla Model 3 and BMW iX3 are produced in China and exported. After the EU launched a countervailing investigation into China's electric vehicles, the executives of the above-mentioned car companies have also made their positions clear.
Previously, Porsche's chief financial officer, Lutz Meschke, slammed the EU for launching a countervailing investigation into electric vehicles imported from China, and said that the move would "not help the EU much"; Walter Myrtle, chief financial officer of the German BMW Group, said that the EU could do more harm than good by launching this investigation; Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen AG in Germany, said that he advocated fair competition, but stressed that protectionism should not arise from this, and that the EU's actions would lead to more protectionism.
The industry believes that the EU's launch of a countervailing investigation is related to the rapid increase in the number of Chinese automobile exports. According to the European Commission, Chinese brands accounted for 8% of the EU EV market in 2022 and is expected to increase to 15% by 2025, and the rapid growth of market share is mainly due to the price advantage of Chinese EVs over European competitors by about 20%.
However, the relevant person in charge of the European Auto Parts Manufacturing Association said that any tariffs on electric vehicles exported from China to Europe could have an adverse impact on European companies. Separately, Benjamin Krieger, executive director of the association, noted that the European Commission's continued focus on Chinese electric vehicles shows that it is not only serious about competition from other markets, but also aware of the need to take action to catch up in the face of strong rivals from China.
According to reports, the scope of the EU countervailing investigation is very wide, and the investigation may last for a year, and it may also lead to EU measures against Chinese-made electric vehicles. As of press time, the impact of the EU countervailing investigation is still uncertain, but it is believed that the investigation will make it more difficult for China to export new energy vehicles.
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