2023-05-12 15:18:00
If this is not strictly speaking protectionism, the will is nonetheless to block: France will in the future condition the bonus of 5,000 euros on the purchase of an electric car at the vehicle’s carbon footprint. In Emmanuel Macron’s sights: vehicles made in China, such as the Tesla Model 3 – the Model Y is built in Berlin – and the… Dacia Spring (Renault Group).
This is not the least paradox of this bonus, granted to any electric car of 47,000 euros maximum even though it may have been manufactured in factories which still use massively fossil fuels – this is the case of the China, with its coal-fired power plants – and which then have to set sail on cargo ships that are rarely paragons of sustainability.
In addition, this bonus principle – which costs the French state one billion euros per year – makes it easier for Chinese manufacturers to sell their vehicles in France even though European manufacturers are subject to tough competition. from them.
Carlos Tavares, the boss of the Stellantis group (Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Fiat, etc.), never misses an opportunity to denounce the advantage that Chinese manufacturers enjoy in Europe – 10% tax on the entry of their vehicles – even as China applies a 25% tariff on imports of European-made cars. Above all, he fears that Chinese manufacturers “seek to position themselves below the price of French and European manufacturers”. And if, in addition, their vehicles benefit from a bonus.
Gigafactories and Europe
France has therefore received the message. “This does not mean that we are doing protectionism but we do not want to use French taxpayers’ money to accelerate non-European industrialization”. explained President Macron. ” Manufacturers will therefore have to prove that they meet the ecological criteria required to be able to benefit from the ecological bonus”, he added, specifying that these criteria must be determined by the end of 2023. “We will support batteries and vehicles that are produced in Europe”.
Gigafactories are precisely being built in Europe. A first factory should be able to deliver “made in France” batteries to the various brands of the Stellantis group in the spring of 2024. It will be 2025 for the factory intended to supply the Renault group, also located in the North. It’s the same schedule for the Salzgitter plant for the VW group. The Renault Mégane E-Tech, for example, is equipped with a battery in Poland.
Until then, many electric cars built in Europe will continue to be equipped with “made in China” batteries.
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