Poorer competition and more expensive electric cars are likely to be the consequence of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, according to several Swedish car organisations.
Electric cars manufactured in China will become significantly more expensive, says Mattias Bergman, CEO of the industry organisation Mobility Sweden.
Other electric cars will also become more expensive as competition decreases, according to Bergman.
This will reduce supply. And thereby also slow down the pace of electrification, he continues.
Carl-Erik Stjernvall, technical expert and sustainability manager at the car consumer organisation M, makes the same analysis.
It will simply become more expensive, whether you buy or privately lease, he says.
Chinese cars often cheap
The electric car market has already taken a significant hit from higher interest rates and the abolished climate bonus. Private individuals have almost stopped buying electric cars.
And the cheapest cars are mainly the Chinese ones, says Carl-Erik Stjernvall.
Mattias Bergman is strongly critical of increased Chinese tariffs on electric cars, for several reasons. Even European car brands with manufacturing in China will get tariffs on the cars imported to the EU.
It's essential to remember that this is not protectionism against Chinese companies, but against electric cars manufactured in China, says Mattias Bergman.
Does not protect
The consequence will likely be, apart from an increased trade war, that more car manufacturers will move production to Europe. And those who cannot compete will be knocked out. Instead of tariffs, the EU should focus on strengthening competitiveness with research and regulatory simplification, according to Bergman.
If you think you can protect European industry by setting up protectionist tariffs, we won't succeed, says Mattias Bergman and continues:
What will happen now with this type of protectionist tariffs is that manufacturers with competitive cars will set up production in the EU earlier than planned.
The consumer pays
The Swedish government will now analyse the investigation more in-depth.
We are generally sceptical of tariffs. It means that someone has to pay them, and it will be the consumer sooner or later, says Foreign Trade Minister Johan Forssell (M).
According to Forssell, they want to know if the Commission has exhausted other avenues that may exist.
Then we have also said that we do not rule out the possibility of introducing different measures when not competing on equal terms.
But there are also other types of measures than tariffs, he adds.
