Import tariffs on cars from China should be lowered, not raised, to push European car makers to produce better products, believes Mercedes-Benz.
CEO Ola Källenius said an open market for Chinese cars should be the end goal – a view that contrasts plans by EU lawmakers to increase fees (and thereby forcing price rises) for heavily Chinese government-subsidised EVs.
“Don’t raise tariffs. I’m a contrarian,” he told the Financial Times. “I think go the other way around: take the tariffs that we have and reduce them.”
The probe by EU lawmakers was launched last year after car bosses including Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares complained that Chinese firms’ cheaper cars would wipe out their European counterparts.
