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Celestial Inspiration: Cars Designed with a Touch of Space
I’ve always had a fascination with space, especially with a dad who does astral photography in his free time, and it’s always cool to see cars that take extraterrestrial inspiration whether it be an economy car’s design or an ultra-luxury car with trim made from moon rocks. The latest in the latter category is the…
BYD’s Strategic Shift: Overcoming EU Tariffs with Local Production
BYD describes the impact of EU tariffs on imported Chinese EVs as “temporary damage” and anticipates it will be the best-positioned Chinese brand in the coming years thanks to local production plans and a flexible powertrain offering.
The brand, which has grown rapidly in Europe over the past two years, is due to open a new factory in Hungary by the end of next year, and another in Turkey soon after.
These will allow it to build European market cars in Europe and avoid the substantial tariffs imposed on Chinese-manufactured cars by the EU.
Speaking at the launch of the Seal U DM-i plug-in hybrid, the first PHEV to join BYD’s European and UK line-up, special European advisor Alfredo Altavilla told Autocar the brand was not happy with the tariffs but said plans were in motion to circumvent them.
“This is going to be temporary damage for BYD,” he said. “In less than a year from now we will become officially a European manufacturer.
“So if you ask me, are you happy with the tariffs? No, but the damage is going to be more limited for BYD than for other Chinese OEMs in terms of volume ambitions. BYD has been the most cooperative Chinese brand with the European Commission. We get the ‘benefit’ of a lower tariff compared with other Chinese OEMs.”
BYD’s cooperation with the European Commission appears to have paid off, at least in the short term.
Following the EU’s decision to raise the tariffs earlier this year, the firm currently pays 17.4% on imports on top of the basic 10% duty applied to all other Chinese brands.
Geely, owner of Polestar, Volvo and Lotus, meanwhile, is required to stump up an extra 19.9%, while MG parent SAIC’s rate is a whopping 37.6%. BYD will be the first Chinese brand to open its own bespoke production facility in Europe.
The move will help cement BYD as a ‘local’ company, a goal outlined to Autocar earlier this year by the company’s president, Stella Li.
“Of course, the factories will have a big impact,” said Altavilla. “This is not just for the tariffs.” He added the move will also help BYD move “much faster” to integrate “European needs and European tastes” into the next generation of its cars.
Reviving Luxury: How the Continental GT Transformed Bentley’s Legacy
Bentley was in a bad state at the end of the 20th century. It was a super low-volume manufacturer with a handful of cars that looked just like Rolls-Royces (because they were), but then in the early 2000s, the automaker changed its entire fortune around by introducing the Continental GT to the world. Its quad…
Maserati Faces Recall Over Fuel Display Issues in GranTurismo and GranCabrio
Maserati will never beat the allegations that cars built in Italy have some very strange faults. Now, the recall bug is coming for the GranTurismo and GranCabrio because of an issue with the fuel level display in the sports cars’ instrument cluster.