As the EU and U.S. get closer and closer to outlawing internal-combustion vehicles it is difficult to see how any of the legacy marques will be able to survive.
From , May 27:
The EU could soon follow the US and impose duties on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. That's set off alarm bells among German auto CEOs, who fear reprisals from Beijing.
The European Union is expected to publish a provisional list of planned import duties on Chinese electric vehicles in June, following an investigation launched last October into whether Chinese carmakers have received market-distorting subsidies to the detriment of EU carmakers.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, says it has found "sufficient evidence" that the imports of new battery electric vehicles from China had increased sharply by 14% since it launched its investigation, and that many of those imports had received government subsidies in the form of tax breaks or direct transfer of funds.
If the EU goes ahead with imposing tariffs, how high would they need to be to have a perceptible impact and deter Chinese EV exporters?
One study by the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm, suggests those levies would have to be in the range of 40-50% for that to happen. However, the EU is assessing its potential countermeasures based on World Trade Organization rules which puts the probable scope of tariffs at 15-30%.
EU imports of EVs from China jumped from $1.6 billion (€1.5 billion) in 2020 to $11.5 billion in 2023, accounting for 37% of all EV imports in the bloc, the Rhodium Group said....
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