The rising threat of China on the European new car market has sparked one industry leader to call for better protections for the local industry – while calling out bloated electric vehicles as “environmental nonsense”. In an open letter to European lawmakers, Renault CEO Luca de Meo criticised the endless growth of car sizes and in particular EVs, saying European regulations have effectively killed off small vehicles. “Driving around every day in an electric vehicle weighing 2.
A C-segment car made in China has a cost advantage of between €6000 and €7000 – around 25 per cent of the total price – compared with an equivalent European model. “In terms of industry financing, China is thought to be handing out increasingly large subsidies to its manufacturers at an ever increasing pace.