The European Commission may reduce import tariffs on electric vehicles manufactured in China for VW and BMW, two European companies that have factories in Chinese territory.
According to sources familiar with the matter, cited by “Automotive News Europe,” the European Commission is willing to classify VW and BMW as cooperating companies within the scope of the investigation carried out by the European Union into Beijing’s support for Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers. This allows the two companies to be eligible for a tariff of 20.8% on their models manufactured in China, below the initially proposed tariff of 37.6%.
This review comes after the BMW electric Mini, manufactured in China, and the Cupra Tavascan, built at the VW Group factory in Anhui, also in China, were not included in the EU investigation analysis before the announcement of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. As a result, they were automatically subject to the maximum temporary tariff announced by the European Commission.
It should be noted that although the tariffs have a maximum duration of four months, German brands have already expressed concern about the possibility of retaliation by Chinese authorities.
