China EV makers expand European tie-ups to blunt impact of tariffs

Such partnerships allow their cars to be considered home-grown

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China’s electric carmakers are expanding in Europe to blunt the impact of tariffs meant to weaken their price advantage over the region’s ailing legacy manufacturers.

With the European Union (EU) hiking duties on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) to as much as 48 per cent, China’s new generation of green car manufacturers is teaming up with local industry so their cars are considered home-grown. Without these measures, Chinese EVs could become thousands of euros more expensive for consumers, or else unprofitable.

Barcelona will soon play host to the Omoda E5, made by China’s Chery Automobile, which has partnered with Spain’s Ebro-EV Motors. In Poland, Chinese maker Leapmotor’s T03 city cars are rolling off an assembly line owned by Jeep and Fiat maker Stellantis. Meanwhile, BYD has announced plans for its own factory in Hungary, with another on the horizon in Turkey, and Zeekr is weighing production sites owned by its parent Geely.

The arrival of China’s EV makers is a risk for European car giants, which have little choice but to strike partnerships and make space for their upstart rivals as they face shuttering some of their own sites to adjust to faltering global sales growth.