The world number 2 in electric vehicles BYD believes that the additional customs duties decided by Europe are “not fair for French consumers”.
“It is not fair for French consumers to impose these customs duties,” Stella Li, vice-president of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, told BFM Business, in reaction to the surcharges decided by Europe.
“It will prevent consumers from buying these cars because you have to pay an additional cost to access the technology,” judges Stella Li from the Paris Motor Show.
The European Union has announced compensatory customs duties of up to 35% in addition to the 10% that already exist. BYD announced that it would not pass this cost on to the consumer.
Stella Li, vice-president of the BYD group – 14/10
Soon new BYD factories in Europe?
To deal with these surcharges, the manufacturer announced that it was going to “turn towards the European market” in order to produce at the end of next year on European soil, notably in its factory in Hungary. “We are going to invest a lot in our European factories,” added Stella Li, who has not closed the door to the opening of other factories in Europe “in the future”.
While French manufacturers are worried about the arrival of BYD on European soil and fear factory closures, Stella Li encouraged them to “invest in technology”.
“Everyone needs to understand that electrification is the future, if you don’t think so, you will drop out,” she said. “If you invest in the future, we can always modernize factories and technologies, and qualified workers are interested, we can continue to obtain profits,” she assures.
