Chinese brands last month captured 11 percent of the European electric vehicle (EV) market, notching record registrations as manufacturers raced to beat stiff EU tariffs that took effect early this month.
SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車) led the charge, shipping its MG4 hatchback to dealers in volume, according to analysts at researcher Dataforce, which compiled the figures.
Vehicles registered before July 5 could be sold to customers without the added duties on imported EVs.
Photo: Reuters
Chinese brands registered more than 23,000 battery EVs across the region during the month, the most ever, Dataforce figures showed.
Their 72 percent sequential jump from May was twice the gain in overall European EV registrations for last month.
Chinese-made imports from Western manufacturers, including Volvo Car AB, BMW AG and Tesla Inc, are also subject to the new duties.
Whether the volume gains can be sustained will be closely watched in the coming months, as the added EU tariffs take hold. The EU’s provisional charges subject SAIC to an additional 38 percent charge, while BYD Co (比亞迪) is to pay an extra 17 percent on the existing 10 percent customs duty.
Automakers on both continents are rushing to add European EV manufacturing so they can avoid the new duties, while tensions between Beijing and Brussels risk devolving into a trade war.
While state-owned SAIC was responsible for the biggest jump in Chinese-branded imports, about 40 percent of the MG4s registered last month were self-registrations by dealers — “not a very healthy growth,” Dataforce product head Gabriel Juhas said.
The company is offering generous leasing deals, including a two-for-one MG4 promotion in Germany, where EV sales have sputtered.
Conversely, there were signs of progress for BYD, the world’s largest EV maker.
A marketing push centered on the Euro Cup Championships in Germany gained traction with consumers, Dataforce analyst Julian Litzinger said.
Another driver of the European EV market last month was the introduction of incentives in Italy, which helped to spur a doubling of battery EV sales in the country from a year earlier.
About 200 million euros (US$216.65 million) in new EV subsidies ran out in less than nine hours, the Italian government said in a statement.
About 60 percent was tapped by families and the rest by companies.
The rise vaulted Italy, which has been lagging in EV sales, into the top six of a regional market that includes EU states, countries like Norway and Switzerland that participate in its single market, and the UK.
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