Chinese car makers at the Paris Auto Show claim their technology is what sets them apart from their European rivals.
CGTN’s Ross Cullen reports.
CGTN’s Ross Cullen reports.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The presence of Chinese cars on European roads has been accelerating, and there is certainly
00:06no shortage of brands from China at the Paris Auto Show. But from next month, the EU will
00:12introduce new taxes on China-made electric vehicles. Some Chinese car makers are now
00:17considering local production. By manufacturing EVs in Europe, they would not be liable for
00:22the new duties. Some firms are already expanding here, and believe they are uniquely placed
00:28to overtake established names.
00:31Through its technology and through its investment in R&D, you must know that we have more than
00:38100,000 engineers. So basically, we are having 15 patterns approved every day of the week.
00:46Registration of China-built electric vehicles totaled 3.5% of the EU market in 2020. That
00:52rose to 27% in the second quarter of this year. That's good news for Chinese firms,
00:58but the EU wants to protect its domestic car makers, which have been picking up punctures
01:04recently. Car sales in China for Germany's BMW and MINI, a British brand it owns, fell
01:1030% last quarter. German combustion models used to dominate the market in Beijing, Shanghai
01:16and Guangzhou. But EVs and plug-in hybrids now make up more than half of car sales in
01:22China.
01:23We can see competitors. We have many competitors here on the Paris Motor Show, and they are
01:28offering new electric cars. Really interesting for the market with lower prices, with smaller
01:36cars as well, and it's really interesting.
01:40Despite the huge number of chargeable cars making their debut here, EU countries are
01:45starting to phase out customer incentives to go green.
01:49While consumers are still buying electric cars, growth is slowing down, coinciding with
01:54a rapid shift to EVs from market rivals like China.
01:58Ross Cullen, CGTN, Paris.