Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
William Li, the chief executive of the electric vehicle maker Nio, expressed his concerns about the European tax policies on Chinese EVs during a user communication event in Tianjin on June 19.
“Currently, we see that Europe’s tax situation is like this: originally, it was 10 percent, and now they added 21 percent, making it a 31 percent tax. This is definitely unfair, right? Europe has always been a global model for clean energy and sustainable development,” Li stated.
Last week, the European Commission said it will hike tariffs up to 38.10 percent on automakers who did not cooperate with the investigation that started last year and 21 percent on the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers which have not been “sampled”.
Li criticized the potential imposition of taxes on Chinese electric cars, highlighting the inconsistency of taxing clean energy vehicles while not imposing similar taxes on fuel-powered cars. “This logic is a bit self-contradictory. So, we are very much against this,” he said.
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In Germany, Nio’s biggest market in Europe, the company registered 35 vehicles in May, a decrease of 20.5 percent from the previous year. Year-to-date registrations in the country reached 190 vehicles, 7.3 percent lower than registrations recorded between January and May 2023.
However, he acknowledged that Europe has the authority to make such decisions and noted that the final decision on the tax policy would come later this year in October or November.
“We can still compete in Europe even with such high taxes. This is a challenge for the European automotive industry: even with such high taxes, we still have opportunities and competitiveness,” he asserted.
Li conceded that the new tax policy would impact sales and profits but emphasized the necessity for the automotive industry to localize operations in the long run. He advocated for local manufacturing once a company reaches a certain sales volume, reaffirming 100,000 units as a threshold.
“In the long run, if we reach a certain volume, we will actively consider local plans. This is a necessary step for global expansion. Just like European companies, if the Chinese market is big enough, they will definitely build factories in China. If American companies see that the Chinese market is big enough, they will also build factories in China. These are the things that Chinese companies must adapt to when going global,” Li concluded.
Last week, the company inaugurated its first batch of Power Swap Station 4.0, which allow a faster battery replacement for Nio drivers — including the sub-brands — but also for the owners of the brands the company has been partnering with.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
