AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/23 Report--

Great Wall Motor took the lead in responding to the EU countervailing investigation and was the first to submit documents on the 11th of this month, Great Wall President Mu Feng said on Weibo on Oct. 23. 'We need a fair and open trading environment, 'Mr. Mu said. At the same time, with the systematic competitive strength of Great Wall, we have the strength to win competitive advantage in the global market. We are firmly committed to the development of globalization, secularism and ecological development. Chinese cars going to sea will be bumpy, but we will unswervingly speed up the pace of going out to sea!

With regard to the importance of the European market, Mu Feng said, every enterprise needs a fair and fair trading environment, and we will respect the market rules of every region. Europe is one of the core strategic markets of Great Wall automobile layout. We will use new energy innovation technology, strengthen local cooperation, layout research, production, supply, marketing full business chain, ecology out to sea. We have begun to rapidly push forward the site selection of factories in Europe.

It is understood that Great Wall officially set up its European headquarters in Munich, Germany in November 2022, as the center of exploring the European market and accelerating the landing of Great Wall's European strategy. The functions of Great Wall's newly established European headquarters will cover important aspects such as research and development, sales and management, especially in R & D. the European headquarters will focus on vehicle integration, vehicle component development, electronic powertrain platform development and integration, intelligent driving and vehicle networking. In addition to setting up its European headquarters, Great Wall has also opened a German subsidiary in Munich.

Since then, Great Wall has launched models to Europe one after another, including Wei Mocha PHEV (WEY Coffee 01) and ORA Cat, in which Wei Mocha PHEV sells for about 390000-420000 yuan in Europe, almost the same as the luxury models sold locally. Starting from 2023, Wei Brand will gradually expand markets such as Spain and Sweden in Europe, and bring more models such as the PHEV latte (Coffee 02) to the European market, according to Great Wall Motors. Data show that Great Wall sold 211696 units in overseas markets in the first three quarters of 2023, of which 30018 were sold in September.

On Sept. 13, European Commission President Ursula Ursula von der Leyen announced that he would launch a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric cars because of EU concerns that Chinese car companies produce low-cost electric cars through large government subsidies, which could threaten the development of local electric vehicles when they pour into the EU market. On October 4, the European Commission officially announced its decision to launch a countervailing investigation into pure electric vehicles imported from China.

How much impact does the EU countervailing investigation have on electric vehicles in China? It is understood that car companies exporting to Europe will become the main targets of the investigation, such as MG, smart, Xiaopeng Automobile, LinkedIn, etc., of which MG may be the most affected. In the first half of the year, the sales of the MG brand in the European market reached 45000, making it the fastest growing Chinese brand in the European market, while Chinese brands, including Geely and BYD, accounted for a relatively low proportion of the European market, that is, the EU launched a countervailing investigation. It will not affect the normal development of the enterprise.

The European Union finally decided to launch a countervailing investigation into pure electric vehicles from China, and China responded strongly to make its position clear. The Ministry of Commerce said that the countervailing investigation launched by the European side was only based on subjective assumptions about the so-called subsidy programs and threats of damage, lacked sufficient evidence to support it, and did not comply with the relevant WTO rules. China expressed strong dissatisfaction with this. The European side asked China to conduct consultations within a very short period of time and failed to provide effective consultation materials, which seriously damaged the rights of the Chinese side.

Li Ke, executive vice president of BYD and president of BYD for the Americas, said in an interview that although the European Union has launched a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, BYD will continue to promote strong growth in Europe. We are a listed company and need to be managed in a transparent and open way of sharing information. Therefore, we are not worried about any ongoing investigation in Europe.

It is understood that the EU countervailing investigation against Chinese electric vehicles can be traced back to 2018, but the new energy land subsidy has been withdrawn since 2018, and the state subsidy has also been cancelled at the end of 2022, although there are indeed many fraudulent car brands in this process, but these brands have almost withdrawn and died out in the market competition. At the 2023 Munich Auto Show, many European manufacturers also admitted that China's new energy vehicles did take the lead.

To put it simply, the EU countervailing investigation of pure electric vehicles from China will not have a significant impact on the operation of Chinese car companies, because at present, Chinese car companies are not highly dependent on the EU market, but in the long run, the survey is likely to have a negative impact on Chinese car companies to expand their market share in Europe and slow down their entry into the European market.

Another impact of the EU countervailing investigation into Chinese electric cars is that Chinese car companies have to rethink their export strategies and methods. If Chinese car companies are levied countervailing duties, it could accelerate the progress of Chinese car companies to build capacity in Europe, where they cannot give up after all.

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