china electric cars
A recent EU decision to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles is “a threat to the market,” according to the head of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in the United Kingdom.
According to SMMT Executive Director Mike Hawes, duties of up to 38.1 percent on Chinese EV imports were the outcome of an EU investigation, and no similar investigation is now underway in Britain.
“I’m not aware of any British manufacturers asking the government to undertake that, (but) we will watch closely what happens,” the minister added.
“The UK market has always been extremely open. So I’ve seen Korean, Japanese, and European green companies get relatively substantial market shares here because we’re probably less patriotic,” Hawes explained.
He said that Chinese car makers had a 4.7 percent market share in the UK, with a nearly 9 percent stake in the electric vehicle industry.
Hawes reported that non-Chinese brands of automobiles built in China, such as Tesla and Polestar, had a market share of nearly 29% in the UK.
Hawes stated that the UK needed to extend its charging infrastructure in order to maintain its long-term competitiveness in the electric vehicle market.
While emphasizing the UK market’s growth, he stated that concerns of competitiveness needed to be addressed “in terms of reducing the cost of these vehicles.”
According to Hawes, the UK sells autos to approximately 150 countries, and the landscape has gotten more competitive as a result of the breadth of free trade agreements. The country is now in talks with a number of nations.
“The first point to stress is that the global industry supports free trade. “That is something we support,” he remarked.
