The head of Italian auto suppliers lobby Anfia has urged the European Union (EU) to impose 80% tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles and parts above a certain threshold to safeguard the European car industry, Reuters reports.
“We have maximum respect for what the Chinese industry has achieved, but that respect has now turned into fear. Europe cannot lose an industry which is essential for its strategic autonomy,” Anfia president Roberto Vavassori told the news agency.
He said that Chinese imports to the EU should be tariff-free up to 8% of annual European vehicle registrations, but with an 80% tariff on imports above that limit. He added that it should cover both vehicles and components, as parts make up roughly 80% of a vehicle’s value.
The EU imposes additional duties on Chinese-made EVs on top of its standard 10% car import tariff, with the combined tariff burden ranging from 18-45% depending on the manufacturer. Introduced in 2024, these measures will remain in force for five years.
Interestingly, Vavassori called Chinese carmakers’ European plants “screwdriver factories”, saying that the likes of BYD and Chery have little interest in local sourcing and that he expects them to keep importing most components from China or low-cost countries close to Europe.
The Anfia boss said Italian auto suppliers exported 4.9 billion euros (RM23 billion) worth of products to Germany last year, a fifth of which was for Volkswagen.
He expects exports to fall around 10% this year after dropping 4.6% in the first half, and considering VW’s massive restructuring, could plummet by 40-50% by 2028 without protection from Chinese imports. “That would be indeed the end of the story,” he said.
Vavassori also criticised the EU’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, saying it could encourage imports from countries like Morocco or Turkey linked to the EU through free-trade agreements instead of strengthening European production. “As it is written now, it accelerates nothing except the announced death of the automotive industry,” he said.
Bwahaha that’s what happens when you keep robbing consumers with mediocre updates while you kept increasing prices. You reap what you sow. Tongkat wont help your euro trash scammers and this is coming from someone who owns not only local but also Euro cars. I have no particular interest in Chinese EVs because of their obsession with bling besides missing the point on what makes a good driving car but it cant be denied they reset the market to show what can be possible for less money. People have finally come to their senses, don’t value heritage, name etc spec sheet is what counts along with decent level of service and warranty. Once that is sorted competition starts on who provides the best after sales and warranties. Customer wins.
Europe, under EU is killing itself… allowing illegal migrants from thereligionofpeace and destroying its own culture just to implement communism!!(one world gov)
Well, when VW introduced the original Beetle as “the people’s car”, they sure hoped it would be omnipresent in everyone’s home. Did any of the countries in the world complain in those days that the Germans have taken over their automobile industry? Look how the tables have turned.
Now the auto industry of Europe – led by the Italians – are terrified they cannot compete. Considering the Italian cars are known for their beauty and chronic unreliability, I am not surprised the Italians are leading the charge. Instead of stopping the onslaught, shouldn’t they be looking at their systems to see why Italian cars always have so much problems built in?
And the Germans – don’t get me started on them. You look at the tech the China EVs have and you compare with what the Germans are now producing. Ten plus years ago, we used to read how the Germans came up with this, with that, and now? How often do you hear them coming up with something innovative? Almost zero. Ten plus years back, they had puddle lights on their doors, follow-me-home headlights, LED lights that turned fractionally earlier in a turn so you could see the road ahead better, Magic Body Control, the list goes on. Do you hear from the Germans if they innovated into something new? What about the Italians? Nope.
So if the Italians win the EU Parliament, it just means that the innovative cars are not going there. They can then go into the Automotive Stone Age.
With SPAIN courting BYD , Spain is Having employment for their people and factories. Whilst …….
So many European thriving brand like Renault, VW, LandRover, Mercedes Benz, including American Ford already have JV, acquiring new tech and resources from China
So these are the others?
I see many brands or wrongly price wrongly targeted veichle, big discount also nobody want to buy.
Italian should worries on next mega volcanic eruption soon, last eruption from this volcano happened at 16th century ce.