The tariffs on Teslas drops to 9% on appeal, while the Mini’s rate is cut to 21.3% from 37.6%.
Following on from the announcement back in July of its plan to place a set of heavy tariffs on China-made EVs, the European Commission has since decided to dial back on a few of these duties it has levied. And among the biggest winners from this recent round of evaluation were Tesla, which saw its rate be slashed by more than half from 20.8% previously to just 9% on appeal.
The American automaker had previously asked for a recalculation following the publication of the July report, and the commission eventually recently agreed to lower its rate after ascertaining that it had received less state aid than some other firms. The European Commission did not remove the duty for Tesla altogether however, as it found that it still does receive batteries at below market value.
Now aside from Tesla here, BMW’s new all-electric MINI was also to be one of the bigger beneficiaries of this recent round of reevaluation from the European Commission. This currently exclusively China-made EV was initially hit with the maximum 37.6% tariff, from its unfortunate production timing seeing it be just a little too late to adequately fulfil the survey to a level of detail required to be classed as a company cooperating with the tariff investigation. A subsequent appeal by its maker and the further opening of its books has since saw that figure be revised down to a lower duty of 21.3%.
Another EV to receive significant tariff revisions meanwhile is Cupra’s Tavascan, which had its duty reduced from 37.6% to 21.3%. This stylish sibling to Volkswagen’s ID.5 e-crossover is currently only assembled at German automaker’s Anhui plant in China, which is a 75/25 joint venture between it and the JAC group.
It is worth noting too that some Chinese automakers have also incidentally received a lowered tariff rate, though it is somewhat fair to say that the reductions are to be token at best. BYD’s duty was dropped a tad from 17.4% to 17%, while Geely’s falls slightly from 19.9% to 19.3% and SAIC’s rate improves marginally from 37.6% to the newly-lowered maximum general cap of 36.3%.
All the tariffs mentioned above are to come on top of the EU’s standard 10% duty on car imports. The European Commission says that these additional duties placed on China-made EVs is aimed at levelling the playing field and countering what it says are unfair subsidies offered over there, with definitive levies to apply by October 30th 2024.
China’s commerce ministry has previously said in response it is “firmly opposed to and highly concerned” about the European Commission’s findings, and vowed to take all necessary measures to protect Chinese firms from these proposed tariffs. Beijing had already launched a challenge at the World Trade Organisation earlier this month, and has also been mulling retaliatory tariffs on large-engined European car imports into its borders.
