Duties and Chinese electric cars, EU corrects. Major benefits to Tesla. China: we will protect our companies

Meanwhile, the one who benefited the most from the new tables, designed to put European and Chinese car makers on an equal footing (but also European manufacturers with factories in China), was the American Tesla: the Commission set a new 9% customs tariff for the Texan manufacturer, well below the 20.8% indicated in July. To this tax must always be added the 10% already in force, which in China is 15% from 2018. According to the Commission, Tesla had requested a recalculation of the rate based on the specific subsidies received by the company. A further investigation was conducted, with a team sent to the Shanghai plant to verify what subsidies the company had received. Brussels concluded that Tesla had received fewer subsidies than originally estimated.

As for the main European manufacturer, the Volkswagen Group, the tariff was reduced to 21.3% on its Cupra Tavascan model, produced by the Seat brand in China, as later confirmed by Seat itself. The agreement represents a first compromise on the part of Brussels, since the duties were strongly opposed by carmakers, in particular by German companies, for whom the Chinese market is crucial, accounting for around a third of sales. The Cupra Tavascan - as well as the Electric Mini produced in China by Bmw (a company judged to be cooperative and therefore passed over as Vw-Cupra at 21.3%) - was not part of the Commission's sample analysis before the duties were announced. Thus the maximum tariff of 37.6% was applied.

The Chinese players, for the time being, have only made slight adjustments: BYD drops by 4 decimals to 17%, Geely to 19.3% (from 19.9%), Saic (parent company of Europe's most popular made-in-China brand, MG Motor) to 36.3%, or 1.3% less. The other companies that cooperated, such as Vw and Bmw, aligned at 21.3%. Those that did not cooperate stopped at 36.3%.

Tariffs had a significant effect on car imports from China. In June, the market had seen a rush of registrations (+37%) to sterilise the effects of the provisional tariffs from 5 July. In contrast, the figure was sharply lower in July: the number of new electric vehicles registered in the EU by Chinese car manufacturers such as BYD and MG Motor was 45% lower than in June, according to Dataforce research in 16 countries. The June peak had been less pronounced for Western companies.

It does not appear, however, that Chinese brands have scaled back their ambitions for expansion in Europe, the world's third largest car market. MG, BYD and other brands grew to 8.5 per cent in July, up from 7.4 per cent a year earlier. Overall, full electric vehicles still account for a minor part of the overall European market, 13.6 per cent according to Acea.

Also according to Dataforce, BYD sold three times more electric vehicles in the 16 markets in July than a year earlier. MG Motor recorded a 20% year-on-year drop in July, while Polestar's sales fell by 42%.