European auto industry leaders back Chinese EV brands in Europe

Healthy competition and cooperation promote further mutual progress for both European and Chinese automobile industries, European industry leaders and experts have said as some European Union (EU) policymakers move to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles (EVs).

If Chinese products are squeezed out of the European market, the competitiveness of European products will be further weakened, an expert has warned.

'Competition makes progress'

"Only when car brands from various countries compete together can we all make progress," Andrea Levy, president of the 2024 Turin Auto Show, told Xinhua during a recent interview.

The three-day event, which was held recently in the northern Italian city of Turin, attracted over 40 global automakers and more than 500,000 visitors, with multiple models from Chinese automotive companies making their debut in Europe.

European car markers are good at design and marketing, while their Chinese counterparts excel in technology, Levy said.

"The advanced technology and high quality of Chinese automotive companies can help strengthen the competitiveness of their European partners," Levy said, stressing that Europe-China cooperation should not be halted due to political reasons.

Since China's reform and opening-up, the automotive industries of China and the EU have become increasingly intertwined.

EU companies have flourished in China, enhancing the development of China's automotive industry chain, and China has also provided an open market and a fair competitive environment for European companies, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said.

According to statistics from the European Federation for Transport and Environment, around 20 percent of all-electric cars sold across the EU last year, or 300,000 units, were made in China. More than half of them came from Western carmakers, such as Tesla, Dacia and BMW, which produce in China for export.

'Full of sense of future'

There has been a lot of positive feedback from customers and experts for Chinese EVs across Europe.

"It is full of a sense of future," said Vincenzo Diglio, an Italian visitor at the show, as he marveled at the Chinese electric vehicles on display. "I believe that affordable and high-quality Chinese electric vehicles will become a part of the daily lives of European people in the future."

Founded in 1934, Gomes Noord is a long-standing authorized dealer of Mercedes-Benz in the Netherlands. Before introducing Voyah, a high-end electric vehicle brand from Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corporation to its lineup, the company purchased three Voyah vehicles for thorough testing by their experienced technicians.

"Their response was excellent," said Kjeld Riegen, head of the Voyah brand at Gomes Noord. "Combined with information we gathered from other European car importers, we have full confidence in the quality of Dongfeng's products."

The company plans to open more Voyah showrooms in three other Dutch cities and launch the brand in Belgium in near future.

Rising opposition

The call for the EU to drop the tariff bid and oppose the trade war has been resonated widely in European academic circles, while quite a number of visionary political leaders have also expressed their disapproval.

Viktor Eszterhai, a research fellow at the John Lukacs Institute of Hungary's Ludovika University of Public Service, pointed out that Europe cannot distort the market just because it is at a competitive disadvantage, which could seriously backfire.

If Chinese products are squeezed out of the European market, the competitiveness of European products will be further weakened, he said.

While European consumers having less access to the most efficient EV products would be "a real tragedy," the potential to fail in the global market would be "a bigger problem," he said.

Croatian political analyst Mladen Plese noted that Europe should be ready for healthy competition with China, and must not follow the U.S. lead when it comes to tariffs on EVs.

European consumers will always seek to buy EVs that are better and cheaper, Plese said, adding that cooperation is in the interests of both Chinese and European manufacturers.

The EU has put forward the ambitious European Green Deal, aiming to turn Europe into the first climate-neutral continent in 2050, and the tariff hikes would only serve to distort its direction.

Eric Solheim, former United Nations (UN) under-secretary-general and former executive director of the UN Environment Program, said in an interview with Xinhua that China is now the core of global green development and an indispensable force in the global green transformation, noting that countries seeking green development without cooperating with China will "pay more time and cost."

Utmost sincerity

The European Commission initiated the anti-subsidy investigation without a formal complaint from the industries within the EU, and the rulings were "non-compliant, unreasonable, and unfair," the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has said.

As part of China's efforts to address the issue, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang chaired the China-EU Electric Vehicle (EV) Industrial Chain Enterprises Roundtable in Brussels on Sept. 18, an event that gathered leaders from nearly 30 European and Chinese EV, power battery, and parts sectors, as well as related industry associations.

A day later, Wang also met with the European Commission Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.

The ministry stressed in a statement released after the meeting that the Chinese industry proposed a price commitment solution during the investigation and further improved it based on the concerns of the EU, which fully demonstrated the utmost flexibility and sincerity from the Chinese side.

China has always exercised prudence and restraints in using trade remedy measures and upheld fair and free trade, said the statement.