China’s BYD warns EU tariffs will raise prices and deter buyers

PARIS (Reuters) -The EU’s planned tariffs on Chinese-made EVs will lead to higher prices and deter buyers, Chinese EV giant BYD (SZ:002594) warned on Monday, adding the tariffs proposed for its vehicles were not a fair, but that it had also not challenged them.

“Europe’s EV market needs more positive education … trust is low. The problem is the high price, and that the European Union now charges tariffs,” BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li told Reuters at the Paris car show.

“Who pays the bill? Consumers. So this makes people very concerned. It will stop poorer people from buying.”

Asked about the tariffs proposed for BYD’s vehicles, Li said: “We disagree a lot on the calculations … It’s not a fair judgement. We did not challenge it. You don’t accept it. What can you do?”

Li added that BYD had not yet decided what it’s strategy would be to cope with the extra cost.

“Politicians should stay away from tariffs, adding more cost to auto manufacturing and bringing confusing information to the auto industry,” she said.

Asked about BYD’s European manufacturing plans, Li said the company would produce almost all of its EVs in Hungary and that it would “buy the maximum from European vendors” in terms of its supply chain.

It will assemble battery packs in Europe, but the cell would still come from China.

Li added the lowest price BYD would be able to sell in Germany, and European more broadly, was about “30,000 euros-ish.”

Asked why BYD was having a hard time in Germany, Li said: “I think we did not build the infrastructure right”.

“Now we are just correcting and starting to build our network … We need to add more service points which we have already done and more dealer networks,” she said.

“You will see the change very soon – you will see a lot of BYD cars on the street in Germany.”