Despite facing uncertain factors such as high tariffs in some markets, including the European Union, Chinese new energy vehicle companies are actively responding while still leveraging their first mover advantage in the field of intelligent electric vehicles to make rapid progress in overseas markets.
On July 22, SAIC Group officially announced that on July 19, at the request of SAIC Group, the European Commission held a special hearing on anti subsidy investigations at the EU headquarters in Brussels. SAIC submitted its preliminary anti subsidy ruling defense to the European Commission and actively safeguarded its legitimate rights and interests. It is expected that the European Commission will make a final ruling on November 2, and SAIC Group will reserve the right to take further legal measures against the Commission's initial determination of unfairness, irrationality, and illegality.
At the special hearing on anti subsidy investigations held by SAIC at the request of the European Union, SAIC explicitly stated that the European Commission's anti subsidy investigations involve commercially sensitive information, such as investigation requirements for cooperation in providing chemical formulas related to batteries, which exceeds the normal scope of investigation; The European Commission has made errors in the recognition of subsidies, such as confusing foreign joint venture owned automotive finance companies with affiliated enterprises of SAIC and including them in the calculation of subsidy rates; During the investigation, SAIC has submitted thousands of written materials, but the European Commission ignored some of the key information and defense opinions submitted by SAIC, and inflated the subsidy rates for multiple projects. The representative of SAIC stated that open competition can bring progress, while protectionism will only lead to backwardness. They hope that China and Europe can accelerate the gathering of innovative forces and jointly create global green development through win-win cooperation.
On June 12th, the European Commission released preliminary information disclosure, proposing to impose temporary tariffs of 38.1%, 20%, and 17.4% on three sampled Chinese car companies, including SAIC Group, Geely, and BYD, respectively. On July 4th, the European Commission officially announced the preliminary ruling result, and the final tax rate was slightly reduced compared to the temporary tariff at the time of the initial ruling. Among the three sampled companies, BYD's tax rate remained unchanged, while Geely and SAIC Group lowered it to 19.9% and 37.6% respectively. The tariffs of other electric vehicle manufacturers in China who participated in the investigation but were not sampled, as well as other non cooperative companies, have also been slightly adjusted.
The EU's tariff policy will have a significant impact not only on Jike, but also on other Chinese car brands entering the European market. On July 19th, An Conghui, President of Geely Holding Group and CEO of Jike Intelligent Technology, stated during the listing of the all-new Jike 009 that Chinese car companies need to win competition in the European market in terms of technology and quality. An Conghui also revealed that Jike is actively promoting its plan for localized production in Europe and will release it to the public at an appropriate time.
On July 21st, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released an analysis of the Chinese automobile export market from January to June 2024, showing that from 2017 to 2023, China's vehicle exports will gradually rebound, mainly due to the contribution of the European market. The latest data shows that in June of this year, China exported 133000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 7%; From January to June, 1 million new energy vehicles were exported, a year-on-year increase of 25%. Among them, from January to June, the export of new energy passenger vehicles was 980000 units, a year-on-year increase of 27%. The export of new energy passenger vehicles accounted for 98% of the total export of new energy vehicles.
Although the export of pure electric vehicles to Oceania and Europe has significantly slowed down, with year-on-year declines of 19% and 16% respectively, the export performance of pure electric vehicles in other regions is still strong, "said Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
On the one hand, actively addressing the tariff issues in the EU market, and on the other hand, increasing efforts to expand into other markets, Chinese new energy vehicle companies continue to expand their export potential. On July 21st, two days after completing the global launch of the all-new Jike 009 left-hand drive version, Jike announced that its other two star models, Jike 001 and Jike X, were officially launched in Mexico. According to Jike, with the debut of these two models, the Jike brand is accelerating its global layout and is expected to enter 50 countries and regions worldwide by the end of this year.
Not only Extreme Krypton, but on July 17th, Nezha Motors, which had just officially established its first subsidiary in South America on Paulista Avenue in S ã o Paulo, Brazil, announced that the company has partnered with local automotive giant Group Motors to open a sales center in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, officially entering the West Asian market. It is reported that Nezha Automobile plans to officially enter the Brazilian market in the third quarter of this year, and the first batch will introduce three representative models under its umbrella; In Azerbaijan, Nezha will be the first to launch two products, NETA U and NETA V.
On the same day that Nezha Automobile announced its entry into the West Asian market, GAC Aion Thailand's intelligent factory was officially completed and put into operation in Rayong Province, Thailand, achieving two legs of vehicle export and localized production. As the first overseas factory of Aion, the first phase of Thailand's smart factory has an annual production capacity of 50000 vehicles, and will gradually expand to 100000 vehicles per year in the future. It can achieve co production of multiple Guangzhou Aion models such as the second-generation AION V, AION Y Plus, and Haobo HT.
In addition to Thailand, the company also plans to enter markets such as Qatar and Mexico in the second half of the year. At the same time, models such as Haobo HT and Haobo SSR will also be introduced to overseas markets. "Gu Huinan, General Manager of GAC Aion, revealed that in the next 1-2 years, GAC Aion plans to establish seven major production and sales bases in Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, East Asia and other countries, gradually achieving global" research, production and sales integration ".
Cui Dongshu analyzed that in June, Chinese car companies' exports of pure electric vehicles to Oceania and Europe slowed down significantly, but pure electric vehicles are still strong in other regions, and the "Red Sea Crisis" has little impact on China's exports. In June, the export of new energy vehicles to Europe temporarily slowed down. With the gradual adaptation to the impact of anti subsidy measures in Europe, China's exports to Europe should be able to rebound, "said Cui Dongshu.