Brussels has turned the knobs, making import duties less strict for Tesla.
Cars that are produced in China, with or without the help of the government there, and then sold on European soil. Unfair competition, according to the European Commission. Since July, the EU has been applying a rock-solid import duty on cars coming from China. The tariffs have increased considerably.
Tesla Import Duties
We are now a month and a few weeks further. The European Commission is already going back on decisions made earlier. Reuters reports about this.
At least, they are putting things into perspective. That is good news for car manufacturers who produce cars in China and good news for European consumers. Because those import duties are of course passed on very harshly. In the end, you and I pay the price.
Tesla also produces in China with a Gigafactory in Shanghai. The fear was that the American car manufacturer would have to deal with an import tax of 20.8 percent. That would make Teslas in Europe incredibly expensive. The European Commission has now set the import tax at 9 percent for Tesla. That’s half the price.
Lower import tax
In addition to the percentage set for Tesla, the EU has also adjusted previously introduced import duties. For example, SAIC is going from 37.6 to 36.3 percent. Geely first had to deal with an import tax of 19.9 percent and that has now been adjusted to 19.3 percent. BYD sees the tax go from 17.4 percent to 17 percent. Incidentally, BYD is working on a plan to circumvent the import tariffs. Reduced percentages or not: in the end, cars from these brands will become more expensive in Europe, that is inevitable.
How long these import duties will last is still the question. In the meantime, the European Commission is in talks with China about government subsidies. If the two parties reach an agreement, the import duties can at best be taken off the table. That is not the case for the time being. Car manufacturers can still comment on the new tariffs until 30 August. The European Commission will publish a report with the final findings at the end of October this year.
