- With the European Union recently introducing tariffs against electric vehicles manufactured within China, Chinese EV brand XPeng is looking to build a manufacturing facility locally, within the European Union.
- The move was revealed in an interview between Bloomberg and and XPeng CEO, He Xiaopeng.
- The manufacturer is currently set to face a 21.3% levy increase for every EV imported into the European Union, under this recent law.
Xpeng going local in Europe?
XPeng already sells EVs in a number of European territories, including France, Germany, and Sweden, where the current cars, which are being imported from Chinese factories, are subject to EU tariffs and therefore impacting XPeng’s European profits. No specific sites have been located yet, with the selection process said to be in its initial stages. However, the manufacturer is in a particularly beneficial position for expanding manufacturing into Europe, thanks to its ongoing partnership with Volkswagen, which allows, amongst other things, for XPeng to tap into the Volkswagen Group’s supply chain.
XPeng is not the only major Chinese EV manufacturer to begin eyeing up European production facilities, with BYD planning to open a passenger car factory in EU member Hungary. While these factories will mainly be beneficial for skirting the EU tariffs, it could also open another point of entry for Chinese EV manufacturers to the US and Canada, who have both introduced 100% tariffs against EVs manufactured within China.
The future opening comes as XPeng also plans to expand to more EU countries, as well as non-EU states such as the UK. The announcement also comes as the manufacturer reveals pricing for a new Tesla Model 3 rival, starting at under $17,000, but for now only in China. Whether production of this budget EV will make its way to Europe, with this new factory, is yet to be seen.
