Decisive intervention by the CEO of Stellantis on the sidelines of the Paris Motor Show: “We need reciprocity, there is no reason to make it easy to access the Old Continent without having the opposite in exchange”.
Gianluigi Giannetti
October 17
A “strengthening” of European positions vis-à-vis the competition of Chinese car manufacturers. This is the rather unexpected message that the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, has decided to launch at the Paris Motor Show 2022, not surprisingly the edition that saw the continental and official debut of BYD and Great Wall Motors. “We need reciprocity,” said Tavares, stressing that “there is no reason” for the Chinese to make access to the European market easy without having the opposite in return. “We want the same conditions” reiterated the Portuguese, adding that Chinese manufacturers “are welcome in Europe” only if those from the Old Continent can access the same conditions in China. A complex situation that Carlos Tavares decided to comment on, who in the past has not failed to express rather critical positions towards the country of the Great Wall.
strained relationships
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The interview granted to the French business newspaper certainly remains in the memory of the experts The Tribune and published last March 1st. Tavares conveyed a strong responsibility of Chinese manufacturers in the microchip crisis that has hit the world industry. “Semiconductor manufacturers are pointing to double-digit production increases. But we don’t see results through suppliers. The bottom line? Someone is stocking up,” concluded the manager. Equally harsh were the considerations addressed to the Chinese political and executive class in the following months, so much so as to lead Stellantis to the progressive and by now definitive disengagement of all activities in the country, where in any case it has a little considerable share equal to 1% of the market. On September 22, Opel formally announced the suspension of expansion plans in China, but already in July Stellantis and Dongfeng Motor had begun the procedures for the dissolution of a joint venture established in 1992, with the European counterpart then constituted by the French group. Psa – Peugeot and Citroën. In January Stellantis announced the plan to increase its shareholding from 50% to 75%, this time in the Gac-Stellantis joint venture founded in 2010, but the group still reversed course in July, communicating the orderly termination of the partnership. with Guangzhou Automobile Group.
Europe again
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Carlos Tavares is not only asking the EU institutions for a stronger position with respect to the competition from Chinese cars, especially electric ones. The Portuguese manager also points the finger at the new anti-pollution legislation that Brussels is expected to present on 26 October next. The new Euro 7 regulations, deemed too stringent and difficult for car manufacturers to comply with, “are useless” and “must be canceled”. This was declared by the CEO of Stellantis in response to reporters on the sidelines of the Paris Motor Show. “Euro 7 must simply be canceled”, said Tavares, answering a question on the subject, adding: “I know that many do not share this position but I think it is a position of common sense. Euro 7 must be canceled”. “The real question today is knowing what European leaders are doing to stimulate the European market. This is the key question”, warned Tavares, according to whom the real problem today is that “European governments accept that our market continues to shrink” in the face of major international competitors such as China.
October 17, 2022 – 17:31
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