Low price at low price… China vs Europe ‘Paris Electric Car Battle’ | Dong-A Ilbo

Clash at the 2024 Paris Motor Show
‘Low-price’ Chinese companies occupy 11% of the European market
“Expand local production” by bypassing high tariffs
European companies also respond with entry-level models

China’s BYD’s ‘Seal’ appeared at the Paris Motor Show held in Paris, France on the 14th (local time). Chinese companies have recently announced plans to ‘expand investment in Europe’ to alleviate the impact of the European Union’s (EU) tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Paris = Xinhua AP Newsis “Global electric vehicle market share 23%.”

BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle company, has an exhibition hall at the 2024 Paris Motor Show, which opened at Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, on the 14th (local time). Stella Lee, Vice President of BYD, went up to the podium and announced BYD’s market share as calculated from January to August of this year. It was emphasized that BYD’s market share is increasing, as if to support the prediction that BYD will surpass Tesla of the United States and become the world’s No. 1 electric vehicle company this year. Vice President Lee announced that a new electric vehicle model, ‘Sea Lion 7’, would also be sold in France and gave a detailed explanation of its design and technology. Exclamations of “great” came from all over the venue.

BYD did not focus on low sales prices when announcing new models. It is interpreted that it was conscious of the recent tariff imposition of the European Union (EU) and other measures to check the ‘low price offensive’ of Chinese electric vehicles. Instead, he emphasized the technology, saying, “The maximum speed measured in the test was 230 km per hour, and the charging time was 24 minutes.”

● Chinese companies “will invest in infrastructure in Europe”

At the Paris Motor Show, a Chinese automobile company that has recently been growing rapidly and a European automobile company that is famous for its automobiles clashed. This year, 9 Chinese automobile companies participated, including BYD, Guangzhou Automotive Group (GAC), Lip Motor, Fossing, and Hongqi. Thomas Stephane, a French visitor, said, “I didn’t know that Chinese cars had grown this much, but I’m surprised.” He added, “I’m scared that the economy will get worse due to the relative difficulties faced by French companies.”

In fact, the growth of Chinese electric vehicles in the European market is remarkable. According to the British Guardian, as of June this year, China’s share of the European electric vehicle market was 11%. The EU decided early this month to introduce a policy of applying import tariffs of up to 45% against Chinese electric vehicles, which are rapidly expanding the market with low prices. The EU and China are still negotiating, but it appears unlikely they will reach an agreement by the end of this month, Reuters reported.

Chinese companies have also shown their intention to grow the market by actively investing in local production facilities and infrastructure in Europe. In particular, GAC attracted attention by announcing on this day, “We will build a logistics warehouse in Europe by 2025.” According to Reuters, GAC is also considering manufacturing electric vehicles in Europe to avoid high tariffs.

European companies’ concerns are growing. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, a multinational automobile company that owns Peugeot, Fiat, etc., expressed concern that “if Chinese automobile manufacturers build factories in Europe, some European companies will close their factories.”

● Buddha Macron: “Difficult times, tariffs are normal”

European automobile companies emphasized the low prices of new cars to counter the low-price offensive of Chinese cars. Volkswagen Group’s Czech car brand Skoda, which recently considered closing its factory, announced the new ‘Elok’ electric vehicle model and emphasized its low price (33,000 euros, approximately 48.9 million won).

Linda Jackson, CEO of Peugeot, considered France’s ‘national car’, was bombarded with questions from reporters about competition from Chinese products. He said, “It was the same when competing with Japanese and Korean cars,” and added, “We will further increase the competitiveness of electric vehicles.” In addition, differentiated services such as ‘Charging Pass’ that can be used at 800,000 charging stations across Europe were highlighted.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited a domestic company exhibition hall and boarded a concept car from French car brand Peugeot. European automobile companies emphasized their low prices in response to the offensive by Chinese products. Paris = Xinhua AP Newsis French President Emmanuel Macron also visited the exhibition halls of domestic brands such as Renault and Peugeot on this day to provide support. According to Euronews, he said, “It is necessary to protect France in difficult times,” and “the imposition of tariffs is normal.”

#2024 Paris Motor Show #Chinese electric vehicles

Paris = Correspondent Jo Eun-ah achim@donga.com

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