Latest News

Volkswagen's CUPRA 'at threat' from planned EU tariffs, states brand name CEO

An electrical automobile made in China by Volkswagen's CUPRA brand would be cleaned. out if the European Commission followed through with prepared. import tariffs of 21.3% on the car, the brand name's CEO told. Reuters.

Raising the price of the Tavascan, an all-electric SUV. selling for around 52,000 euros ($ 57,500), to cover the expenses. was not an option in the existing European financial environment,. stated Wayne Griffiths, who directs the SEAT and CUPRA brands. under Volkswagen's SEAT S.A. subsidiary.

Nor was moving production to another location after the. company had actually currently invested in building up capability at. Volkswagen's Anhui plant, a majority-owned joint venture with. China's JAC Car Group.

Without the forecasted Tavascan sales, CUPRA would miss out on. EU-mandated carbon dioxide decrease targets next year and so. face heavy fines, forcing it to cut output with a possible. effect on work at its base in Spain, Griffiths stated.

It puts the whole monetary future of the business at danger,. Griffiths stated, speaking from Barcelona. The objective was to. safeguard the European cars and truck market however for us, it's having the. opposite result.

The remarks are the strongest yet by a carmaker affected by. the tariffs, highlighting concerns Brussels will harm domestic. gamers it is attempting to secure via its probe of Chinese. aids released almost a year earlier.

The anti-subsidy tariffs are on top of the EU's standard 10%. responsibility on cars and truck imports, a procedure the Commission states is aimed at. levelling the playing field and countering what it says are. unreasonable aids. Beijing has threatened to strike back with. probes into EU imports of dairy, pork and cognac.

' A DIFFERENT ANIMAL'

The Tavascan, like BMW's electrical Mini, was. at first struck with a 38.1% tariff in Brussels' strategies, prompting. demonstrations from both business.

The tariff on both automobiles was lowered to 21.3% last month to. be included in the list of business that worked together with the EU. probe.

At the same time, Brussels decreased the proposed responsibility for. Tesla, which has a big factory in Shanghai, to 9%, the. lowest of all the duties, after the U.S. EV maker asked for its. own worked out duty.

China has actually been canvassing the bloc's 27 member states to. reject the proposed additional tariffs in an October vote.

Griffiths stated CUPRA remained in talks with different levels of. the Commission and the German and Spanish federal governments to try to. convince them to cut or ditch the planned responsibilities.

Business agents will take a trip with a Spanish. delegation to China in several weeks, he added.

German carmakers like Volkswagen are heavily exposed to. possible counter-tariffs by China on large engine cars and truck imports. China represent about a third of their sales. While the majority of automobiles. offered in China are made locally, many top-end designs are. imported.

CUPRA decided several years ago to produce the Tavascan, its. second all-electric model, at Volkswagen's newly constructed. Anhui plant in China as a one-off to get the item to market. quickly and had actually always prepared for the design's successor to be. integrated in Europe, Griffiths stated.

We're not a Chinese brand attempting to overload the European. market. Our vehicles are not for the masses. The automobile is not a. subsidised item, he stated. We're a various animal. That's. what we're trying to describe.

(source: Reuters)